Distributed Adaptive Robust Voltage/VAR Control with Network Partition in Active Distribution Networks

This paper proposes a distributed adaptive robust voltage/var control (DAR-VVC) method in active distribution networks to minimize power loss while keeping operating constraints under uncertainties. The DAR-VVC aims to coordinate on-load tap changers, capacitor banks and PV inverters in multiple operation stages through a distributed algorithm. To improve efficiency of the distributed algorithm, an affinity propagation clustering algorithm is employed to divide the distribution network by aggregating 'the close nodes' together and setting 'the far nodes' apart, leading to the network partition where the information exchange between adjacent sub-networks is reduced. Moreover, the virtual load which describes load characteristics of the sub-networks is applied to enhance the boundary conditions. To fully deal with the uncertainties, the proposed DAR-VVC is formulated in a robust optimization model which considers the worst case to guarantee solution robustness against uncertainty realization. Besides, this paper develops an alternating optimization procedure integrating a column-and-constraint generation algorithm and an alternating direction method of multipliers to solve the DAR-VVC problem. The proposed approach is tested on IEEE 33 and IEEE 123 bus distribution test system and numerical simulations verify high efficiency and full solution robustness of the DAR-VVC. © 2019 IEEE.