Analyzing Photovoltaic's Impact on Conservation Voltage Reduction in Distribution Networks

Conservation voltage reduction (CVR) has been widely implemented in distribution networks and helped utilities effectively reduce energy and peak load. However, the increasing penetration level of solar photovoltaic (PV) has affected voltage profiles and the performance of CVR. It remains an outstanding question how CVR and solar PV interact with each other. Understanding this interaction is important for utilities in implementing CVR and assessing its performance. This paper studies the impact of solar PV on CVR in a real distribution system in the Midwest U.S. using comprehensive simulations. We have considered various PV allocations and penetration levels, as well as different inverter control modes according to IEEE Std 1547-2018. Three metrics are used to quantify the impact of solar PV on CVR: voltages at the substation, voltage distribution across the network, and energy consumption reduction due to CVR. The results show that the allocations of solar PV have the most significant effect on the CVR performance, where a dispersed allocation of solar PV will help flatten voltage profile and achieve deeper voltage reductions at the substation, less energy consumption and line losses.