Location and Capacity Selection Method for Electric Thermal Storage Heating Equipment Connected to Distribution Network Considering Load Characteristics and Power Quality Management

High-permeability distributed wind power and photovoltaic systems are connected to the distribution network, which exacerbates the volatility and uncertainty of the distribution network. Furthermore, with the increasing demand of heating in winter and environmental protection, the wide use of electric thermal storage heating equipment (ETSHE) can promote distributed renewable energy utilization. However, an unplanned ETSHE connection to the distribution network may cause serious power quality problems. A new method of equipment location and capacity is proposed, which considered the improvement of power quality and load demand characteristics of the distribution network. First, based on heat load portrait technology, the node’s thermal load classification prediction was carried out to provide the data basis for the model solution. Second, the multi-objective optimal location and capacity programming model including harmonic distortion rate, voltage deviation, voltage fluctuation, and ETSHE cost was established. Then, the system nodes were preprocessed based on the sensitivity analysis method to reduce the number of installation nodes to be selected, and a feasible alternative set of installation nodes for the optimal configuration model of ETSHE could be obtained. Finally, the improved multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm was used to solve the model, and the data envelope analysis method was used to evaluate the power quality of each access scheme. The analysis of the numerical example shows that it can not only satisfy the user′s heat demand, but also effectively improve the power quality by rationally planning the location and capacity of ETSHE, which achieves the safe and efficient utilization of energy.