Impacts of grid-connected PV system on the steady-state operation of a Malaysian grid

Abstract

Distributed generation (DG) systems have many impacts on the power network. Previously, the power was supplied from the centralized generating unit and then dispatched to the loads, but today DG systems provide electrical power at the customers' sites and slightly decline the losses due to either transmission or distribution of the electricity. Furthermore, DG systems are able to reduce the emission of fossil fuel pollutants, maintenance costs and improve the voltage profile. Indeed, the aim of this paper is to qualify the effects of the photovoltaic DG (PV-DG) system interconnection on the voltage profile and power losses over a sample power grid located in Peninsular Malaysia for three load pattern categories such as residential, commercial and industrial. Moreover, the solar radiation data associated with a typical location in Malaysia would be extracted from the web, and then the impacts of PV-DG are supposed to be investigated based on the PV output power variations during a day. Finally, the resulted voltage profiles and power dissipations would be compared for before and after the PV-DG installation in different locations of distribution feeders.