Feasible Operating Regions of Distribution Network Buses in Networks with Different Renewable Energy Sources

The increase in the number of variable renewable energy source (RES) generation poses a significant risk to distribution networks’ operation when their power injections into the network are uncontrolled. This paper demonstrates how specifying day-ahead feasible operating regions for distribution network buses in terms of real and reactive power injections in the network controls the RES generations’ power injections into the network, hence eliminating overvoltages and line congestion challenges that may occur. The study was performed on a test network with solar photovoltaics (PVs) and wind RES generations. The operating envelopes were calculated using Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) based probabilistic load flow simulation and convex hull estimation in DIgSILENT and MATLAB environments. The results demonstrated that the presence of different types of RES in the network (PV, wind, batteries) facilitates the calculation of operating regions (envelopes) across the entire 24-hour period and, therefore, more flexible network operation.