Preprints of the 5th international conference on
Electric Utility Deregulation and Restructuring and Power Technologies
November 26-29, 2015. Changsha, China
Influence of Distributed Generation on Distribution
System Voltage Stability
Meimei Xu 1,a Zuyi Ren 2,b Yong Xiao 1 Yang Bai 2
1. Electric Power Research 2. NARI-Relays Electric
Institute of Guizhou Power Co., Ltd.
Grid Co., Ltd. Nanjing, China
Guiyang, China b. renzy@nrec.com
a. xumeimei_1986@163.com
Abstract—Interconnected operation of distributed generation
(DG) will become the future trend. This paper studies the voltage
stability of distribution network with DGs. According to different
network interfaces and operating modes, DGs are classified into
four different node types. The processing methods in power flow
calculation are also analyzed in this paper. Then voltage stability
condition of distribution network is derived out based on the
power flow solution. According to four types of DGs, simulations
and analysis of the impact on the voltage stability index are con-
ducted. Simulation results show that the voltage stability is re-
duced by accessing PV-type DGs, and the quantity of PV-type
DGs should be limited. Additionally, the voltage stability of dis-
tribution network is improved by accessing PQ-type DGs on dif-
ferent location and capacity.
Keywords—distributed generation; DG Node Type; voltage sta-
bility of distribution network; stability index
I. INTRODUCTION
In order to meet the requirements of the rapid and healthy
development of Chinese economy, especially now the issues
of environment, climate and energy are serious, DG has its
unique advantages because it uses the renewable energy and
new energy to generate electricity [1-3]. Combining the
distributed generation and the large power grid to supply
power to the demand side is the future development trend [4].
This measure will affect the various aspects of distribution
system in a certain depth [5], one of these effects is voltage
stability [6-8], when the distributed power is incorporated into
the distribution network.
The distribution network changes from a single power
supply network to a network with several decentralized power
sources after the access of distributed power supply. And it
also changes the direction and size of the trend. Because of the
special characteristics of the distributed generation
technology, it has to establish new models of generators for
DGs based on different node types. After the models
mentioned above are established, the power flow and voltage
stability of the system can be analyzed.
Study of the voltage stability index by Thevenin theorem is
conducted in reference [9]. Whether the distribution network
National Key Technology R&D Program of China (2013BAA02B02)
978-1-4673-7106-3/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE
Xiankui Wen 1 Junfang Zhang 3,c Zhiqian Bo 4,d
3. Nanjing University of Science and 4. XUJI Group of
Technology SGCC
Nanjing, China Xuchang, China
c. zjf807@163.com d. bozhiqian@263.net
voltage is stable is determined in reference [10] based on if the
power flow convergence of asynchronous generator and the
induction generator in the load growth mode whether the
power flow convergence. Voltage stability index of the system
are studied in reference [11][12] according to the power flow
calculation on forward derivation and backward substitution.
This paper studies the influence of voltage stability index of
distribution network by combining four kinds of power flow
calculation models according to different types of distributed
generation grid connections. Then through the simulation of
different situations, the effect of DG on the voltage stability of
the system with different types, capacities and positions is
compared in this paper. At last methods for configuring DG
for improving voltage stability are presented in this paper.
II. PROCESSING OF DISTRIBUTED GENERATION MODEL IN
POWER FLOW CACULATION
When the power distribution network is incorporated into
the distributed power supply, appropriate node types must be
chosen according to their different distributed generation types,
because the forms of power generation, grid interface and the
operating mode of distributed power generation are different
from the traditional generator. The corresponding power flow
calculation methods should be developed.
There are 4 main types of nodes in the distributed
generation: 1 PQ-type DG, 2 PV-type DG, 3 PI-type DG, 4 P-
Q(V)-type DG.
In the process of power flow calculation, PV-type DGs will
usually beyond reactive Power limit. In the calculation process,
the reactive power of PV nodes and the reactive power of DG
should be constantly revised. Once the DG beyond reactive
power limit, the PV nodes will change into PQ nodes. For PI-
type DGs, in the iterative process of power flow calculation, if
the current amplitude ( I ) and active power ( P ) of the second
iteration of the K are known, the reactive power output of the
distributed power supply can be obtained by the k+1 sub
iteration. At this point the formula of reactive power output is
Qk +1 = I 2Vk2 − P 2 , where Vk represents the node voltage
amplitude of the kth iteration. This is equivalent to translating
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the PI node into PQ node to calculate. In the power flow The value size of L can be used to judge the voltage
calculation, before processing P-Q(V) nodes, the active power stability of the system. The smaller the value size of L is the
of the injected node should be calculated firstly. And then, more stable the voltage of distribution network is. It can get
according to the voltage of the node calculated from each
iteration, the injected reactive power can be calculated. So that
L easily by power flow calculation which is benefit for on-
line monitoring of voltage stability.
it can be transformed into PQ node before the next iteration.
IV. ANALYSIS OF THE INFLUENCE OF DISTRIBUTED
III. VOLTAGE STABILITY CONDITION OF DISTRIBUTION
GENERATION ON VOLTAGE STABILITY
NETWORK BASED ON POWER FLOW SOLUTION
Different types, locations and capacity of the distributed
The voltage will be instable in distribution network
power supply will have different effects on the voltage
because of the load change. For example, in the distribution
stability of the system. The influence of different DG on the
network of the open-loop operation, when the load is out of
static stability of the system voltage is analyzed according to
control, it will cause the voltage drop, which leads to the
the voltage stability index. And then we can get the suitable
voltage instability. The load change is complex. A transient
configuration of DG.
high load may threaten the voltage stability of the system.
As shown in Fig. 2, the chain distribution network has 21
The method of judging voltage stability can be divided into
nodes. The substation bus number is 1.20 three-phase
two categories. One is judged by the existence of the solution
symmetric concentrated load nodes are distributed along the
in the power flow calculation. The other is determined by the
feeder. The load of each node is represented by the static
load-voltage characteristics. In this paper, the former method
model of constant power. Related parameters can be seen in
was studied.
reference [10]. Assuming the substation bus as a reference
The distribution network is shown in Fig. 1, the power of node V1 = V1∠δ1 , the voltage value is 1.02, the reference value
the branch ij is Pij + jQij , Vi is the voltage of node i, and Vj is is 10kV, and reference capacity of the system is 10MVA.
the voltage of node j ( V and V are represented by Cartesian
i j
V1 V2 V3 V19 V20 V21
coordinates).
R12 X 12 R23 X 23 Rij X ij R1920 X 1920 R2021 X 2021
Vi Rij + jX ij V j

i j
I ij
Pij + jQij Pji + jQ ji
Fig. 1. Simple distribution network
According to the simple distribution network, the voltage
stability discriminant can be obtained as follows.
4[( Pji X ij − Q ji Rij ) 2 + ( Pji Rij + Q ji X ij )Vi 2 ] ≤ Vi 4
Vi is the voltage amplitude of node i . Type (1) is called
the voltage stability condition of distribution network.
So the voltage stability index based on the existence of
power flow solution can be defined as follows.
P2 + jQ2 P3 + jQ3 P19 + jQ19 P20 + jQ20 P21 + jQ21
Fig. 2. The distribution network with 21 nodes
A. Different Types of DG Nodes with Same Capacity
The effect of voltage stability index Lij when the same
capacity of different types of DG is connected to the node 15
(1) is analysed in this paper. DG has the constant power. The
constant reactive power of PQ-type DG is 300kvar. The
constant voltage value of PV-type DG is 0.96. The constant
current value of PI-type DG is 0.067. The rated voltage value
of P-Q(V)-type DG is 10kv, the power factor is 0.89. The
result is shown in Fig. 3.

4
Lij = [(Pji X ij − Qji Rij )2 + (Pji Rij + Qji X ij )Vi 2 ] (2)
Vi 4

The condition of voltage stability can be written as Lij ≤ 1 .

When Lij is smaller, the possibility of the equation which has a
real solution will be greater, and the voltage of branch will be
more stable. The distribution network usually has lots of
branches. The voltage stability of the system should be
determined by the maximum value of Lij of all branches in the
whole system. So the dissertation defines the voltage stability
index based on the existence of power flow solution as
follows.
L = max{Lij } ij ∈ Bij (3) Fig. 3. Effect of different types of DG on the first class of voltage stability
index
ij ∈ Bij represents all branches in the distribution network.

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It can be showed that the value of Lij of all branches have

the result that the PQ-type < PI-type < P-Q(V)-type < PV-type
for different types of DG with the same capacity. The
influence of PV-type DG on the voltage stability is the most.
The Maximum value of Lij is 0.45787. Voltage stability of the
system is greatly reduced. The other types of DG has the little
influence on Lij . When they are connected to the system, the
value of Lij will be smaller, and the voltage will be more
stable.
In the case of increasing LSF, the PQ-type DG can
improve the ability of the system to bear load growth which
can be concluded from a large number of simulation. The
maximum value of LSF can reach 4.1. The LSF of PV-type
DG only can be maintained at 1. When the load changes Fig. 5. Effect of different capacity of PQ-type DG on the first class of
slightly, the system does not converge. voltage stability index

The load of PI and P-Q(V) type can be converted into PQ
type, so this paper only analyses the PQ-type DG and PV-type
DG.
B. The DG Node of Type PQ
1) The influence of different location of PQ-type DG on
Lij
In the former analysis, it is showed that when the PQ-type
DG is connected to the system, the value of Lij will decrease.
In order to make the results more obvious, we analyze the
simulation of LSF being 3.5. Fig. 4 shows the results that the
connections are node 2, 3, 5, 11, 15, 20, 21.
Fig. 5 shows that when the capacity of PQ-type DG
increases, the value of Lij reduces. It also means that when the
capacity is greater, the stability of voltage is greater.
C. The DG of Type PV
1) The influence of different location of PV-type DG on Lij
Assuming that the active power of PV-type DG is 150kw
and the value of constant voltage is 0.96. And it was
connected to different nodes. The simulation results are shown
in Fig. 6. For PV-type DG, when the load changes slightly, the
system does not converge. So the location of DG is located
between node 12 and node 15 in order to guarantee the power
flow convergence.

Fig. 6. Effect of different location of PV-type DG on voltage stability index

Fig. 4. Effect of different location of PQ-type DG on the first class of voltage
stability index
Overall, wherever the PQ-type DG is, it has little influence
on voltage stability. The values of Lij all reduced when DG is
connected. If the location is closer to end of the line, the
voltage of system is more stable.
2) The influence of different capacity of PQ-type DG on Lij
Lots of PQ-type DGs are chose to connect to node 20. The
simulation results are shown in Fig. 5.
Fig. 6 shows that wherever the DG is, t he value of Lij in
all branches increases. It means that the voltage is more
instable. The value of Lij changes slightly when the location
of DG changes except of branch 12 and 13.
2) The influence of different capacity of PV-type DG on Lij
The DG is connected to node 15. The active powers of
different DG are 300kw, 150kw, 100kw and 50kw. Lij is
shown in Fig. 7.

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Fig. 7. Effect of different capacity of PV-type DG on voltage stability index
It can be seen in Fig. 7 that the value of Lij of branch
between 1 and 14 reduces when the capacity of DG increases.
The voltage is more stable. The value of Lij increases when
the capacity of DG increases in other branches. It means that
the voltage is more instable.
In a word, the different types, capacities and locations of
DGs will affect the voltage stability index. (1) For different
types of DGs, when the DGs have the same capacity and
location, PQ-type DGs are conducive to reduce the system's
voltage stability index and enhance the system's load bearing
capacity. However, the access of PV-type DGs will greatly
reduce the system voltage stability. (2) For PQ-type DGs, if
the locations are the same, the greater the capacity is
connected to, the higher the voltage stability is. If capacity is
the same, the voltage is more stable when the access position
is closer to the end of the line. (3) For PV-type DGs, the
different capacities will have different effects on the voltage
stability. With the increase of capacity, the voltage stability of
the branch before the access point is increased, and the voltage
stability of the branch after the access point is decreased.
V. CONCLUSION
This paper studies the influence of different types,
capacities and locations of DGs on the voltage stability of the
system. And it also analyzes the voltage stability index based
on the existence of power flow solution. After a large number
of simulation analysis, it can be concluded that the PQ-type
DGs of large capacity which are accessed to the distribution
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network will increase the system voltage stability. However,
the voltage stability of the system is greatly reduced when the
PV-type DGs are accessed to the distribution network.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the National Key Technology
R&D Program of China (2013BAA02B02).
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