Abstract
Energy storage (ES) is a form of media that store one form of energy to be utilized at another time. Importance of ES is comprehended while intermittent nature of renewable energy (RE) generation increases and integration into the grid becomes viable in terms of economics and environment. However, technical analysis should be carried out before large scale integration into the grid. Some utilities experienced in Europe and expressed concern about issues in integrating large scale renewable energy in the areas of harmonics, voltage regulation, network protection and islanding. In Australia, distribution network (DN) is not robust compared to the European grid; moreover loads are largely distributed over large geographical areas. Installation of RE such as roof top solar photovoltaic (PV) is increasing in Australia which also boosted by the governments incentives to the individual owners. It is therefore obvious that large scale PV integration into the Australian grid is imminent. The intermittent characteristic of solar PV is expected to have greater impacts on DN in Australia compared to the DN in Europe. Therefore this paper investigated the impacts of solar PV on low voltage (LV) DN where loads connected through distribution transformer (DT) and finally further investigation was conducted with the deployment of ES into the respective load centers. It was found that storage reduced the overall peak load condition on the DT, and also reduced the energy fluctuation in the DN. It was also found that storage improved the voltage regulation on the LV side of DT and stabilized node voltage.
Highlights
In large network, voltage drop and voltage capacity will play major role in determining various future network augmentation
This paper investigated the impacts of solar PV on low voltage (LV) distribution network (DN) where loads connected through distribution transformer (DT) and further investigation was conducted with the deployment of Energy storage (ES) into the respective load centers
load flow (LF) simulation was done in investigating the voltage regulation on the LV side of DT while load curve (LC) simulation was done in investigating the loading on DT and fluctuation handling capability of storage
Summary
Voltage drop and voltage capacity will play major role in determining various future network augmentation. In normal operating condition in the DN, the receiving end voltage is less than the sending end voltage due to voltage drop in cables or conductors, bus impedance and transformers throughout the system. Connection of DG into the network could unload one phase and overload other phase and could lead in phase unbalance condition. These unwanted characteristics can be avoided by buffering excess energy from DG and by supporting load from buffered energy when required. Electricity generated from DG introduces bi-directional power flow at the point of connection in the DN that influences the voltage regulation, balancing between phases and loading on distribution transformer (DT). Investigation is required to identify the storage impacts on DT and on DN while storage and solar PV is integrated into the network
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