The paper proposes a comparison between nonlinear optimization and genetic algorithms for optimal location and sizing of distributed generation in a distribution network. The objective function consists of both power losses and investment costs and the methods are tested on the IEEE 69-bus system. The study covers a comparison between the proposed approaches and shows the importance of installing the right amount of DG in the best suited location. Studies show that if the DG units are connected at non-optimal locations or have nonoptimal sizes, the system losses may increase.

Phasor measurement units (PMUs) are being rapidly deployed in power grids due to their high sampling rates and synchronized measurements. The devices high data reporting rates present major computational challenges in the requirement to process potentially massive volumes of data, in addition to new issues surrounding data storage. Fast algorithms capable of processing massive volumes of data are now required in the field of power systems. This paper presents a novel parallel detrended fluctuation analysis (PDFA) approach for fast event detection on massive volumes of PMU data, taking advantage of a cluster computing platform. The PDFA algorithm is evaluated using data from installed PMUs on the transmission system of Great Britain from the aspects of speedup, scalability, and accuracy. The speedup of the PDFA in computation is initially analyzed through Amdahl's Law. A revision to the law is then proposed, suggesting enhancements to its capability to analyze the performance gain in computation when parallelizing data intensive applications in a cluster computing environment.

The phasor measurement unit (PMU), with its ability to directly calculate synchronized positive sequence voltages and currents (magnitude and phase), offers a more current and accurate view of the power system compared to that provided by traditional measurements and state estimation (SE). However, the high-resolution data, provided at rates of 50 Hz and 60 Hz (dependant on nominal frequency), capture any transient or dynamic events occurring on the network, potentially distorting the intended steady-state view at various points of the power system. In this paper we propose the use of detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) to detect and isolate such events for alternative investigation. Comparisons are made between the state estimator and installed PMUs on the high-voltage transmission system of Great Britain.

Photovoltaic (PV) systems can reduce greenhouse gas emissions while providing rapid reactive power support to the electric grid. At the distribution grid level, the PV inverters are controlled to reduce the system’s active power loss and to address problems caused by the PV systems themselves. For example, the distribution grid may face overvoltages due to high PV generation during off-peak hours. In this paper, a reactive power control approach for PV inverters is proposed to control the injection/absorption of reactive power to reduce the active power loss of the system while solving the overvoltage problem. To achieve this, the proposed controller periodically dispatches the reactive power setpoints and applies a real-time volt/var algorithm. The proposed method uses probabilistic distributions to account for the uncertainties in PV generation and load demand. The controller is implemented at the lateral level which simplifies the required communication platform and reduces the computational cost. The real-time volt/var control coordinates the operation of the different inverters during overvoltage conditions so that the voltage rise is limited using as little reactive power as possible by the inverters. Accordingly, the active power loss due to reactive power flow in the system is reduced. Two distribution systems are simulated using Open Distribution System Simulator (OpenDSS) and used to evaluate the proposed controller and compare with two other methods. A daily time series simulation is performed to test different operating conditions. The simulation results show that the proposed controller is able to reduce the active power loss in general and solve the overvoltage problem with a lower reactive power requirement than the other volt/var methods.

The problem of improving the voltage profile and reducing power losses in electrical networks is a task that must be solved in an optimal manner. At present time, this optimality can be achieved by efficient usage of existing facilities alongside with installing FACTS devices. The static VAr compensator (SVC) was chosen for study as its maturity and acceptable costs make it more usable in practical applications than other FACTS devices This paper proposes a genetic algorithm that tries to identify the optimal location and size of an SVC. A multi-criteria function is developed, comprising of both operational objectives and investment costs. The computer program is run on a 13 nodes test system, assessing improvements in voltage profile and reducing power losses. The purpose of this study is to validate the solution method in order for it to be adapted for systems of higher dimensionality.

Overvoltage is one of the issues in distribution grids with high penetration of photovoltaics (PVs). Centralized or droop-based methods of active power curtailment (APC) and/or reactive power control of PVs are viable solutions to prevent overvoltage. This article proposes two distributed methods to control PV inverters, which are based on nodal sensitivities. Then, the performance of the proposed methods is compared with two commonly used control methods, i.e., a distributed method that follows IEEE-1547 but uses arbitrarily chosen droops and a centralized optimal power flow (OPF) based method. Performance is evaluated using a 730-node feeder with up to 100% penetration of inverters. Based on the case studies, the key findings are: first, local droop setting as per IEEE-1547, whether the droops are arbitrarily chosen or systematically calculated using sensitivities, can eliminate overvoltage if reactive power control and APC are coordinated, second, the proposed sensitivity-based approach yields the best voltage performance index computed based on voltage profile compared to the maximum allowed upper bound, and third, OPF-based method is desirable if communication infrastructure exists and minimum energy curtailment is sought.