Achieving Operational Flexibility with Voltage Control

Using voltage data down to the consumer level is essential for grid optimisation and operational flexibility in the new era of intermittent generation and fast-changing user demand.

Power grids were designed and built many decades ago to accommodate centralised generation with largely predictable customer demand and predictable network voltage profiles. However, existing infrastructure now needs to be adapted to cope with demands of a low-carbon era with increasingly dynamic supply and demand.

For example, one of the biggest challenges facing power grids is the monitoring and control systems that were implemented to manage high-voltage (HV) parts of the grid. Many are no longer fit for purpose. And as network complexity has increased, fluctuations in voltage can have significant repercussions—high voltage can be dangerous and low voltage (LV) can be disruptive—with both having significant cost and environmental impacts.

Typically, high voltages cause higher losses and wastes energy, increasing electricity bills and carbon emissions, and causing acceleration of equipment ageing and potentially premature failure. There are also customer service impacts. Consumers rightly expect suppliers to comply with statutory voltage regulations, and low-carbon technology providers should be able to connect to the grid as efficiently as possible.

Read the full article here: Achieving Operational Flexibility with Voltage Control (powermag.com)