Hierarchical rule-based control of BESS for voltage regulation and ramp-rate smoothing in low-voltage networks with high photovoltaic
This study proposes a rule-based hierarchical control algorithm for a battery energy storage system (BESS) to simultaneously address two technical challenges in low-voltage distribution networks with high photovoltaic penetration: overvoltage/undervoltage at network nodes and violations of the power ramp-rate limit at the point of common coupling. The algorithm employs the linearized LinDistFlow power-flow model on a 4-bus radial feeder based on the International Council on Large Electric Systems (CIGRE) benchmark, with a 2,000 kWh/300 kW lithium iron phosphate BESS. The operating mechanism consists of two priority levels: Level 1, an inner loop converging from zero to determine the minimum charging/discharging power required to keep the terminal-node voltage within the permissible range; Level 2, an additional ramp-rate correction applied only when it has the same sign as the voltage command. The 24-hour quasi-static simulation results show that the proposed algorithm (Scenario B) reduces the voltage deviation index by 38.66% relative to the no-BESS scenario (Scenario A), completely eliminates voltage violations from 2.8% to 0%, reduces the ramp-rate violation rate from 39.13% to 13.04%, decreases losses by 41.57%, and yields a state of charge drift of only −1.8%. Compared with the single-objective droop scenario (Scenario C), the proposed algorithm outperforms it in all evaluation metrics, confirming the effectiveness of the hierarchical mechanism with a minimum-charge inner loop in preserving battery capacity for coordinated grid services.
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