Distribution Impacts using a Mix of Smart Inverter Functions on a High Penetration PV feeder

This paper investigates the influence of a mix of smart inverter functions of photovoltaic (PV) systems in different operating conditions of a real distribution feeder. The analysis considers the connection of three PV systems and three smart inverter functions to be combined: volt-var, volt-watt and fixed power factor. For instance, a combination can be formed by selecting one PV system with its inverter operating in volt-var mode, another one operating in volt-watt mode and the last one in fixed power factor mode. The benefits and impacts of each mix of smart inverter functions is measured by considering different operating conditions. For this purporse, three penetration levels, two load levels and two solar irradiance profiles are considered. The influence of each combination of functionalities is investigated through several metrics that have been created to reflect the overall system performance. Some metrics are, for example, maximum feeder voltage, number of traditional voltage regulation equipment operations, reactive energy demanded by the inverters and many others.

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