Real and reactive power control of distributed PV inverters for overvoltage prevention and increased renewable generation hosting capacity

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of real and reactive power control of distributed PV inverter systems, to maintain and improve network power quality. High resolution PV output data has been collected at a number of trial sites in Newcastle, Australia and network impact simulations undertaken for an example long rural feeder gathered from the Australian National Feeder Taxonomy Study. These show how localised PV inverter controls can regulate distribution network voltages, reduce network losses, increase the network hosting capacity and hence the uptake of distributed renewable energy.