Modelling and allocation planning of voltage‐sourced converters to improve the rooftop PV hosting capacity and energy efficiency of distribution networks

Abstract

This paper presents a planning approach for improving the rooftop photovoltaic (PV) hosting capacity and energy efficiency of distribution networks with the placement of voltage-sourced converters (VSCs). The PV hosting capacity (PVHC) is the maximum amount of PV generation that a distribution network can accommodate without deteriorating the operational performance of the network. The PVHC is derived under the constraint of a maximum allowable network power loss. Two different types of VSCs are modelled for the placement in distribution networks to improve the PVHC. These are series and shunt VSCs. The series VSC is designed to inject a series voltage in quadrature with the line current to maintain a constant bus voltage. The shunt VSC is designed to improve the load power factor to unity by injecting a shunt compensating current in quadrature with the bus voltage. The objective function is to maximise the PVHC to obtain the maximum PV generation capacity to be integrated in each bus. The particle swarm optimisation is used as a solution approach. The results show that the placements of VSCs improve the PVHC. This also reduces energy loss when there is no PV generation available.