OPTIMAL CONDITIONS FOR THE OPERATION OF REACTIVE POWER SOURCES IN A MICROGRID
Andriy Polishchuk · 2024
Recently, the issue of implementing microgrids to ensure reliable power supply to critical consumers during forced power outages has become urgent in Ukraine. These systems not only increase energy independence, but also ensure the continued operation of essential facilities such as hospitals, water and heat utilities, especially under conditions of unstable centralised power supply. At the same time, these enterprises are significant consumers of reactive power due to the use of motors and pumps. This poses additional challenges to the stable operation of microgrids, as reactive power must be effectively managed to maintain optimal voltage parameters and minimise losses in electrical networks. This work addresses the current task of improving methods and means for optimising reactive power flows in microgrids by coordinating the operation of reactive power sources, which will contribute to reducing energy losses in microgrids and improving voltage quality. The subject of the research is the process of automated control of a set of reactive power sources (RPS) in the microgrid. Coordinating their operation will help reduce energy losses in the microgrid and improve voltage quality. To solve this problem, the principle of predictive control and the method of "ideal" current distribution (based on energy losses) were applied. Using the "ideal" current distribution model, the non-linear optimisation problem of reactive power flows in the distribution network was reduced to a much simpler problem of finding the current distribution in an equivalent circuit with active resistances.