Optimal Utilization of Reactive Power Capabilities of Distributed Solar PV Inverter

To improve energy security and mitigate climate changes, renewable energy particularly solar energy is being significantly integrated with the power grid. Solar PV inverter, used for conversion of generated DC power into AC power has the ability to supply active and reactive power. Traditionally, only active power ability of solar inverter is being used. Although, the reactive power capability of the solar inverter can also be utilized for the maximization of benefits. In this study, the reactive power ability of the solar inverter has been used for minimizing power loss and enhancing the loadability limit of the distribution system. The loadability limit has been maximized by utilizing a new voltage-based stability indicator. New voltage-based stability indicator overcomes the computational complexity problem of unbalanced continuous power flow. Moreover, in the optimization, a Grey Wolf optimization algorithm has been used and the proposed methodology is applied and verified with IEEE-33 bus test system.