Assessing the technical impact of integrating largescale photovoltaics to the electrical power network of Bahrain

Abstract

Electricity demand of Bahrain is met almost entirely by gas turbine power stations at present. The peak demand growth rate of around 6.5% per year necessitates installing new generation in near future. Bahrain’s rich natural solar resource could be exploited to meet this need. However, so far, no detailed studies on the grid integration of large scale photovoltaics (PV) systems have been carried out. Potential impacts of integrating a 1MW PV plant to the power network of Bahrain is examined in this paper by means of a systematic modelling analysis using PVsyst and PSSE. Results demonstrate how PV systems can exploit the advantage provided by the weather of Bahrain to match the peak demand. Other concerns addressed in this work are impact of PV generation during times when electrical power network is more susceptible to voltage limit violations and impact of fault current contribution from the PV plant to the security of the network considered. The overarching view from the results of these grid integration studies is that the outlook for network integrated PV in the future In Bahrain is positive. It is hoped that the results of this work would inform Bahrain’s utility’s policies on PV systems.