Assessing Distributed Energy Resource Hosting Capacity Under Different Grid-Tie Inverter Control Strategies

Despite the potential benefits that the integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) can bring to the system, it may cause problems related to power quality constraints, such $as$ reverse power flow in substation and overvoltages. An effective approach to address these problems involves the adoption of reactive and active power control in grid-tie inverters associated with DER. Therefore, this paper assesses the impacts of grid-tie inverter control modes, including both Volt-Var and Volt-Watt strategies, on the DER hosting capacity. In order to improve the overall system operation, modifications in the Volt-Var and Volt-Watt curves were proposed. It is noteworthy that these control strategies can have adverse effects on certain distribution system performance indicators, such $as$ voltage deviation and power losses; for this reason, these indicators are also evaluated in this study. A stochastic approach was adopted to deal with the uncertainties associated with DERs and loads. Finally, from tests conducted in the IEEE 33-bus test system, it was concluded that the proper adjustment of the Volt-Var and Volt-Watt control curves significantly influences DER hosting capacity, $as$ well $as$ voltage deviation and power losses.