Power electronic converters in LV distribution grid for voltage and capacity improvements

Abstract

The focus of this work is to find possibilities of applying power electronic converters in low voltage distribution grid to solve voltage problems and cable capacity problems. In the presence of a high penetration of distributed generation and new types of loads (eg. heat pumps and electric vehicles) in future the LV network cables might get overloaded and voltage limits might be violated. Power electronic converters might be utilized to mitigate these problems in a more cost efficient way compared to implementing traditional methods using cable reinforcement or/and creating additional MV/LV substations. Therefore an analysis is necessary to evaluate both traditional solutions, solutions using power electronic converters and hybrid solutions on cost effectiveness. The analysis has been done here using sequential AC-DC Power flow method, and exhaustive search optimization method has been implemented to reduce the overall solution implementation cost in the network based on the net present value. For running the power flow in the AC-DC combined system the MATLAB toolboxes MATACDC [1] and MATPOWER [2] have been used. The information about different components, load profiles and future growth are mainly based on Dutch and UK LV-grid, but the method described in this work can be applied for all radial LV-grids.

Date of Award	31 Dec 2014
Original language	English
Supervisor	M. Gibescu (Supervisor 1) & Michiel Nijhuis (Supervisor 2)