Preventive voltage control actions to securely face load evolution in power systems

One of the main aims of the System Operator (SO) is to maintain in every moment the system parameters between feasible operational margins. In certain periods of the day the load suffers fast changes which cause, specially when it tends to increase, a generalized voltage decrement and a more stressed condition for many reactive resources. In such cases, many devices may arrive to their operational limits, situation which translates into a weaker system. To avoid this negative effect the control variables should be rescheduled to maintain the normal operation conditions in the foreseeable future. This work proposes a useful tool to assist the SO when determining such actions. The main improvements are due to the implementation of a hybrid method that allows the comparison of different kinds of control variables and the inclusion of the operator background and experience in the algorithm that determines the actions. The performance of the proposed method is tested in both the IEEE 14-Bus and 118-Bus test systems.