A Comparative Study of Different Local Reactive Power Control Methods of Distributed Generation in Ghana

The Ghanaian renewable energy sub-code for distribution network allows reactive power capability from grid connected distributed generation (DG). This code supports cos phi (P) and Q (U) reactive power control methods. Thus, this paper is to assess the impact of these methods on the operation of on-load tap changer (OLTC), voltage regulator (VR) and also on performance indices like losses and voltage on a distribution grid. This is achieved by presenting a coordinative voltage control scheme based on an optimization algorithm that incorporates these local reactive power control methods. The algorithm takes into consideration different static load models with the main objective of improving the voltage profile. The results suggests that Q(U) control has the minimum impact on VR in terms of switching operations as compared to cos phi(P) even though the latter had an improved voltage profile.