Energy Requirement for distributed energy resources with battery energy storage for voltage support in three-phase distribution lines

Integration of distributed energy resources (DER) into distribution systems is a new concept for improving system capacity and stability, feeder voltage, and supply quality and reliability. This paper has addressed voltage support in distribution systems by energy injection from a battery storage distributed energy system. An operation strategy for an inverter interface battery energy storage DER has been developed for maximum improvement in feeder voltage with minimum energy injection from the DER. A control strategy has been proposed for inverter based battery storage DER to regulate network voltage effectively, through operating the DER to generate real (P) and reactive (Q) power with Q priority. The implementation of the inverter interface DER with battery energy storage will save fuel cost of DER but be of much higher capital cost than using a rotary generator. The proposed technique has been evaluated by simulation on a three-phase distribution system with time varying loads. Test results indicate that DER operating with Q priority offers the best solution for maximum voltage improvement. The results also confirm that DER injecting P and Q at the ratio of maximum voltage sensitivity of line presents better solution for power loss reduction than the solution offered by the DER operating with Q priority. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.