Impact of Reverse Power Flow Due to High Solar PV Penetration on Distribution Protection System

Abstract

AbstractThe power generated locally exceeds the demand with the increase in solar PV penetration to the distribution grid, and reverse power flow will occur. As solar PV penetration increases, the reverse power flow and the short-circuit current level increase. Most of the distribution system protective devices are designed to carry unidirectional power flow. The reverse power flow will lead to voltage violation and protective device miscoordination. In this paper, the impact of renewable energy (PV) penetration on the current and power flows is analysed. An IEEE 33 bus system is taken for analysis, and the variation in short-circuit current level and power flows for different PV penetration rates is found out. Test systems are modelled in Python which is an open-source platform with machine learning and data analysis features. The results show that as PV penetration increases, the power flows will get altered and the short-circuit current level changes and hence the operation of protective devices will get affected.KeywordsRenewable energy (RE)Photovoltaic (PV)Distributed generation (DG)Voltage stability index (VSI)Reverse power flow (RPF)