Power System Voltage Profile Evaluation Considering Renewable Energy Power Plant Reactive Power Droop Control

Abstract

The integration of intermittent renewable energy power plants, such as photovoltaic and wind power plants, to bulk power systems has changed the way their operation and expansion is performed. In this paper, an evaluation of the voltage profile of a power system considering different levels of renewable penetration and their reactive power droop control is presented. A series of power flow simulations to obtain the voltage profile and the generation's reactive power were performed using a 6-bus power system considering load-demand and renewable generation hourly curves. Based on current grid code requirements, the overall voltage control of a power system will tend to degrade with increasing penetration of renewables, as reactive power droop control alone is not sufficient to accommodate load-demand behavior due to their intermittence.