Mitigation of Voltage Unbalance in Microgrids using Thermostatically Controlled Loads

Abstract

With the development of technology, some important developments occur in electrical energy systems. Especially smart grids and micro grids will be an important part of energy systems in the following years. With the increasing use of micro grids, more renewable power plants will be included in the system. However, the production of renewable energy sources varies according to the weather conditions. Therefore, the generated energy is not known beforehand. Increasing single-phase loads (such as electric vehicle charging stations), unpredictable renewable generation and uncertainty of consumption can lead to problems of voltage unbalance in the micro grid. This problem can damage the network in many ways. In this study, the problem of voltage unbalance occurring in the microgrid was tried to be reduced by demand side management. The comfort of the customer should not be affected when demand side management is performed. For this reason, the most suitable load for demand side management is thermostatically controlled loads (TCL). An algorithm has been proposed to reduce voltage unbalance by using these loads. This algorithm was tested with the help of PSCAD/EMTDC program.