New Industry Products

Volt-VAr Control Product Seamlessly Integrates DER into Existing Power Grids

November 07, 2018 by Paul Shepard

mPrest announced the release of mVVC, its new Volt-VAr Control product. An integral part of its Intelligent Grid System of Systems offering for power utilities, mVVC manages solar PV farms as well as traditional Volt-VAr solutions for optimal energy efficiency and power quality. mPrest's mVVC product is the first end-to-end solution enabling utilities to combine Volt-VAr quality targets with Conservation Voltage Reduction (CVR) in order to regulate, optimize and automate the electricity distribution system.

As more PV farms are integrated into the utility scale grid, these and other distributed energy resources (DERs) can cause inefficient operational situations that the traditional power grid is not designed to accommodate.

As utility consumers demand access to more sustainable energy, the need to integrate and manage solar PV farms and other DERs into legacy grids has become acute. DERs and grid-scale assets - which enable solar or other renewable energy forms, EV charging and energy storage - are sweeping the electricity market, driving utilities to reimagine their operational grid model. mPrest's mVVC Volt-VAr Control product provides utilities with new, enhanced visibility into the system's operation and performance, including data to support predictive failure analytics for crucial asset health management.

"The rise of distributed energy resources is decentralizing power generation and delivery," said Ron Halpern, Chief Commercial Officer of mPrest. "Our Volt-VAr Control product enables seamless integration of solar PV farms into existing power grids, advancing the transition towards providing cleaner, more sustainable energy. At the same time, mVVC enables distribution utilities to easily provide ancillary services such as VAr trading."

Currently available VVC solutions are designed to solve a localized problem, and thus do not provide centralized control over Volt, VAr or loss management. mPrest's new product addresses this gap and allows utilities to manage voltage and reactive power in a clean, distributed generation environment.

mPrest mVVC is a visualization, control, and advanced data analytics solution that turns DERs into fully integrated tools to support safer, more efficient, and more cost-effective operation of the power distribution system. The system enables utilities to easily implement CVR across their network, which is crucial for keeping their voltage within an optimal range.

The new offering can easily integrate into existing systems to support services on all levels and provide a broader picture of the grid with more precise results – facilitating legacy power utilities' digital transformation.