N2 Research Report Investigation into Voltage Management Technologies for Future Australian Suburban Distribution Networks Report at a glance
RACEforNetworks
Research Theme N2: Low voltage network visibility and optimising DER hosting capacity
ISBN: 978-1-922746-46-7
Industry Report
Investigation into Voltage Management Technologies for Future Australian Suburban Distribution Networks
September 2023
Citations
Razzaghi, R., Burstinghaus, E., Gerdroodbari, YZ., Hibbert, M., and Liu, J. (2023). Investigation into Voltage Management Technologies for Future Australian Suburban Distribution Networks. Prepared for RACE for 2030 CRC
Project partners
Project team
Monash University
• Dr Reza Razzaghi
• Dr Edward Burstinghaus
• Yasin Zabihinia Gerdroodbari
eleXsys Energy Pty Ltd
• Dr Jiannan Liu
• Mark Hibbert
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the stakeholders involved in the development of this report, in particular the interviewees and the industry reference group members who have given so generously of their time, including Monash University, EleXsys Energy, Western Power, CSIRO, Climate-KIC, Energy Queensland, Ausgrid and Energy Consumers Australia. Whilst their input is very much appreciated, any views expressed here are the responsibility of the authors alone.
Acknowledgement of Country
The authors of this report would like to respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the ancestral lands throughout Australia and their connection to land, sea and community. We recognise their continuing connection to the land, waters and culture and pay our respects to them, their cultures and to their Elders past, present and emerging.
What is RACE for 2030?
RACE for 2030 CRC is a 10-year cooperative research centre with AUD350 million of resources to fund research towards a reliable, affordable and clean energy future. racefor2030.com.au
Disclaimer
The authors have used all due care and skill to ensure the material is accurate as at the date of this report. The authors do not accept any responsibility for any loss that may arise by anyone relying upon its contents.
What is in the report?
The study investigates the extent to which voltage management issues in Australian distribution networks can be expected to arise given credible projections of DER growth. It also analyses the corresponding trend in curtailment of residential rooftop solar generation that can be expected to emerge. The effectiveness of distribution-scale static synchronous compensators (dSTATCOM) at mitigating these issues is then studied in detail and the corresponding effectiveness of two different conventional network augmentation strategies are also studied for comparison.
Why is it important?
The findings of this report demonstrate how severe the voltage management and curtailment issues will become if left unchecked as well as which voltage management solutions work best and the extent of the impact that they would have if applied at specific levels. The results also demonstrate that thermal rating violations will be also an emerging issue with high penetration of DERs
What
did we do?
A highly detailed and large-scale model of the power distribution network for a suburb in Brisbane was developed in the software package DIgSILENT PowerFactory. This model represents approximately 13,000 residential customer connections as well as several hundred commercial/industrial ones. The distribution of results offered by this model are quite general in nature and therefore applicable to other similar types of distribution networks across Australia and overseas.
W hat difference will it make?
The trends in the severity of emerging voltage management and curtailment issues that are revealed by this study will inform distribution network service providers, who are the relevant stakeholders in this area, as to the timescale within which they will likely need to act in order to rectify them. The insights into the degree of effectiveness that three different voltage management solutions would have will also inform them as to the volume of these solutions that would need to be deployed in the years ahead.
What’s next?
The emergence of thermal rating violations that will be simultaneous with the emergence of voltage management and curtailment issues was an interesting finding from this study. Future work will therefore focus on the optimal mixtures of re-conductoring, transformer upgrades, LV area splitting, on-load tap changer transformer deployment, static synchronous compensator deployment and neighbourhood battery storage that could address both voltage management and thermal rating violation issues as needed in typical Australian distribution networks. This will ensure that network service providers can plan cost-effective future network upgrades that will address these issues ahead of time, rather than reacting to them after they have already emerged.
