Large Photovoltaic Power Plants Integration: A Review of Challenges and Solutions

Mansouri Mansouri,Sera Sera,Lashab Lashab,Guerrero Guerrero,Cherif Cherif

doi:10.3390/en12193798

Mansouri Mansouri, Sera Sera + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/en12193798

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Journal: Energies	Publication Date: Oct 8, 2019
Citations: 43	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Monastir, Aalborg University

Abstract

Renewable energy systems (RESs), such as photovoltaic (PV) systems, are providing increasingly larger shares of power generation. PV systems are the fastest growing generation technology today with almost ~30% increase since 2015 reaching 509.3 GWp worldwide capacity by the end of 2018 and predicted to reach 1000 GWp by 2022. Due to the fluctuating and intermittent nature of PV systems, their large-scale integration into the grid poses momentous challenges. This paper provides a review of the technical challenges, such as frequency disturbances and voltage limit violation, related to the stability issues due to the large-scale and intensive PV system penetration into the power network. Possible solutions that mitigate the effect of large-scale PV system integration on the grid are also reviewed. Finally, power system stability when faults occur are outlined as well as their respective achievable solutions.

Highlights

The worldwide interest in environmentally friendly power resources is exponentially increasing.Among several renewable energy systems (RESs), solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are one of the major types of distributed renewable energy (RE) generation that has unlimited supply capacity and is forecasted to become the largest source of RE by 2022
Small-scale PV systems are used with a generation capacity that ranges from 1 up to 1000 kWp, where it is connected to low voltage
An updated review mainly focused on the effect of the penetration of PV power was presented in this paper

Summary

Introduction

The worldwide interest in environmentally friendly power resources is exponentially increasing.Among several renewable energy systems (RESs), solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are one of the major types of distributed renewable energy (RE) generation that has unlimited supply capacity and is forecasted to become the largest source of RE by 2022. Solar PV systems can be connected to either of two levels in a network and these systems can be categorized into three main categories according to their size: large, medium, and small. The largeor utility-scale PV power plants (LS-PVPP) are those typically generating above 100 MWp , so they can be connected to high or medium voltage. This category of PV energy is typically delivered in three phases and requires some transformers parallel to the power system. The second category, which is the medium-scale PV, generates from 1 to 100 MWp and is connected to the distribution level [2] This category can be found in all sizes of buildings such as government sites, malls, and residential areas.

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