Intelligent Nodes in Distribution Systems - Optimizing Steady State Settings

Due to gradually increasing loads, medium voltage distribution feeders come closer to their voltage and current limits. Furthermore the introduction of distributed generation (DG) causes larger voltage variations. In this paper a control concept is proposed for so called intelligent nodes (INs) applied at medium voltage level. The IN has the potential to extend the power limits of feeders and to improve voltage performance. The IN controls power flow in the distribution grid in order to reduce the difference between minimum and maximum occurring voltages in the distribution grid. In this paper the control concept, which is based on the gradient method, is presented and illustrated with a study grid. Finally a comparison is made with the meshed operation of the study grid.