Optimal power flow based coordinated reactive and active power control to mitigate voltage violations in smart inverter enriched distribution network

Voltage violations are the main problem faced in distribution networks (DN) with a higher penetration of inverter-based generations (IBG). Active and reactive power control from smart inverters (SI) can mitigate such violations. Optimal power flow (OPF)-based control provides more accurate operating set points for the coordinated operation of SIs. Therefore, this paper presents a three-phase OPF-based control on SI-enriched unbalanced distribution networks. To consider this, first three-phase model using the current injection model (CIM) is developed. Later, the optimal active and reactive power set points for SIs are obtained by solving a quasi-dynamic optimization problem. The uniqueness of the proposed method is that it regulates the voltage at the affected nodes by obtaining the optimal set points for the smart inverter. The OPF is implemented with a mathematical CIM in Pyomo and solved using the Knitro solver. The proposed method is compared with the sensitivity-based Volt-Var Control (VVC), Volt-Watt Control (VWC), and combined VVC and VWC methods. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified in a European low-voltage and CIGRE medium-voltage distribution network with 100% penetration. The analysis shows that the OPF-based control optimizes with less network loss and can maintain voltage violations with less reactive power support.