Systems and methods for volt-ampere reactive control and optimization

A control system for an electric power transmission and distribution grid configured to supply electric power to a plurality of user locations, the system comprising:

• a supply point for generating electrical power;
• a plurality of nodes;
• at least one supply point sensor, wherein the at least one supply point sensor is located at or between the supply point and the plurality of nodes and configured to sense a component of a supplied electric power from the supply point;
• a plurality of sensors downstream from the at least one supply point sensor, and wherein each of the plurality of sensors is configured to sense a component of a supplied electric power at the respective plurality of sensors and to generate measurement data based on the sensed component of the power;
• a controller configured to receive the measurement data from the plurality of sensors, to determine a system power factor at the supply point and a node power factor, different than the system power factor, at each of the plurality of nodes, and to generate an energy delivery parameter based on the system power factor and/or a system volt-amperes reactive (VAR);
• and
• at least one VAR adjusting device per each of the plurality of nodes configured to add or subtract VARs to the electric power transmission and distribution grid in response to the energy delivery parameter,
• wherein the controller is further configured to operate in a normal mode when the determined system power factor is lagging and is greater than the predetermined lagging power factor set point or when the determined system power factor is leading and is greater than the predetermined leading power factor set point;
• wherein the controller is further configured to order the nodes (in an ordering step):
• from most lagging to least lagging if the nodes are lagging and then from most leading to least leading if the nodes are leading when in the normal mode;
• and from most leading to least leading if the nodes are leading and then from most lagging to least lagging if the nodes are lagging when in the normal mode;
• wherein the controller is further configured to adjust one VAR adjusting device per each of the plurality of the nodes in the order from the ordering step until:
• a target close or open VARs is reached if the determined system power factor is lagging or leading, respectively, when in the normal mode;
• wherein the controller is configured to operate in one of a plurality of different operating modes based on the determined system power factor, the normal mode is one of the plurality of different operating modes, and the controller is configured to order the nodes differently between at least two of the operating modes.