Abstract
Recently, the demand for electrical energy has increased more than energy production due to the growing population and industrialization. Therefore, the distributed generators integration (DGs) into the distribution system has been widely adopted. This work examines the effect of photovoltaic-based distributed generator (PV-DG) integration on power quality effect of a radial distribution system. Firstly, the capacity and optimum placement of the PV-DG units in the distribution network are determined by employing the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. Then, the impact of PV-DG integration on voltage harmonic distortion is analyzed by performing harmonic load flow analysis. Also, the P-V curve method is used to evaluate the effects of higher PV-DG penetration levels on loading margin and voltage magnitude. The simulation results show that as the PV-DG units’ penetration level increases, a greater level of harmonic distortion is injected, implying that the PV-DG units should only be integrated up to the network’s maximum capacity. Therefore, high harmonic distortion is produced when the PV-DG units are penetrated beyond this maximum penetration level, which has a negative impact on the system’s performance. The total voltage harmonic distortion is 4.17 % and 4.24 % at PCC1 and PCC2 at the highest penetration level, allowing the acceptable harmonic distortion limit. Also, grid-connected PV-DG units improve loading margin and voltage magnitude, according to the P-V curve results. The standard IEEE-33 bus distribution system is modelled in ETAP software and is used as a test system for this study.
Highlights
As loads become increasingly sensitive and nonlinear loads increase in the electrical distribution system, power quality becomes more important [1]
PV-distributed generators integration (DGs) penetration level in percentage is defined as the ratio of PVDG power to the total system load demand, as stated in (1)
The result shows that high penetration levels of photovoltaic-based distributed generator (PV-DG) units lead to increased harmonic distortion levels in distribution systems
Summary
As loads become increasingly sensitive and nonlinear loads increase in the electrical distribution system, power quality becomes more important [1]. PV systems, wind turbines, biomass, and small hydropower facilities can all be used as DGs. On the other side, an increased level of DG penetration could affect power system operation and control strategies. Harmonic distortion is another undesired problem that must be considered while operating grid connected photovoltaic DGs. In a PV-DG system, an inverter converts direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC), injecting voltage and current harmonics into the system, resulting in poor power quality [4], [5]. Grid-connected applications can generate energy for local loads and exchange power with the utility grid, whilst stand-alone PV-DG units can only deliver electric power for remote loads without exchanging power with the utility grid [9], [10]. A PV-DG unit connected to the grid can inject excess energy back after meeting the load demand [11]. PV-DG penetration level in percentage is defined as the ratio of PVDG power to the total system load demand, as stated in (1)
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