A Comparative Study into Enhancing the PV Penetration Limit of a LV CIGRE Residential Network with Distributed Grid-Tied Single-Phase PV Systems

Abstract

Photovoltaic distributed generation (PVDG) has seen tremendous growth in recent years, especially in the residential sector. Among other concerns, the voltage rise in AC networks is considered the most limiting factor in achieving increased PV penetration levels. A steady-state impact study is performed on a CIGRE low-voltage (LV) residential network. This paper compares six techniques to increase the PV penetration limit in the LV residential network, namely single-phase penetration (SPP), Distribution Scheme 1 (DS1), Distribution Scheme 2 (DS2), alternate phase penetration (APP), offline tap adjustment (OTA) and switched on-load tap adjustment (SOLTA). PSCAD software is used for this study. The best results are obtained for the DS2-SOLTA case that gives the minimum voltage magnitude and voltage unbalance in the system. The steady-state results are validated by a dynamic data study using measured solar irradiance and residential load data. A novel approach is also proposed for calculating the worst day from the data set. The obtained results verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.