Decentralized Controller Using Active Power Control with the Aid of Sensitivity Matrix

Photovoltaic embedded power generation in low voltage (LV) networks is utilized globally as an effective eco-friendly solution to fulfill electricity demand. But there are some technical challenges due to the plug and play operation of solar feeders. At the time of heavy penetration of solar power, LV-line voltage limits often exceed, and as a result the inverters trip. The droop control techniques are used as a simple decentralized solution. However, pre-adjustment of the droop for known load configuration is necessary. Under varying load condition, this will not give the optimum droop. To alleviate the problem, a simple decentralized controller is proposed in the paper which uses the active power control with the aid of sensitivity matrix with self-adjusting parameters. The operation and the performance of the controller are verified with Matlab/Simulink® environment on a three-phase radial feeder. The theoretical and simulation results of the coefficients of the sensitivity matrix are compared to find that they are in closer agreement. Interestingly, the proposed-controller is found to give promising performance in balancing the voltage of 3-phase systems too.