A Self-Organizing Strategy for Power Flow Control of Photovoltaic Generators in a Distribution Network

TLDR: In this article, the authors developed a distributed control algorithm that will regulate the power output of multiple photovoltaic generators (PVs) in a distribution network, where the cooperative control methodology from network control theory is used to make a group of PV generators converge and operate at the same ratio of available power, which is determined by the status of the distribution network and the PV generators.

Abstract: The focus of this paper is to develop a distributed control algorithm that will regulate the power output of multiple photovoltaic generators (PVs) in a distribution network. To this end, the cooperative control methodology from network control theory is used to make a group of PV generators converge and operate at certain (or the same) ratio of available power, which is determined by the status of the distribution network and the PV generators. The proposed control only requires asynchronous information intermittently from neighboring PV generators, making a communication network among the PV units both simple and necessary. The minimum requirement on communication topologies is also prescribed for the proposed control. It is shown that the proposed analysis and design methodology has the advantages that the corresponding communication networks are local, their topology can be time varying, and their bandwidth may be limited. These features enable PV generators to have both self-organizing and adaptive coordination properties even under adverse conditions. The proposed method is simulated using the IEEE standard 34-bus distribution network.