Active MV Distribution Network Planning Coordinated with Advanced Centralized Voltage Regulation System

Traditional voltage regulation systems for distribution networks fail to achieve their objective in presence of local generation resources as they are designed for passive distribution systems and based on assumptions that may not hold if distributed generation (DG) is connected to the network. An advanced centralised voltage regulation system has been studied by the authors to allow a greater DG penetration and a high quality service to customers. However, depending on the characteristics of the specific network, it could be sometimes impossible to solve some operating conflicts between voltage regulation and correct DG operation. In practice, in order to connect a greater amount of DG, it might be necessary, not only to revise the employed regulation criteria, but also to act at the planning stage to make specific changes in the structure of a distribution system. In this view the paper presents a planning procedure that, besides existing distribution system data bases, load variation forecast, environmental/climatic conditions, and planners experience, takes into account information directly provided by the operation of the aforementioned advanced voltage regulation system.