A Photovoltaic Power Curtailment Method for Operation on Both Sides of the Power-Voltage Curve

Jose Miguel Riquelme-Dominguez and Sergio Martinez
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Jose Miguel Riquelme-Dominguez: Department of Electrical Engineering, E.T.S.I. Industriales, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Sergio Martinez: Department of Electrical Engineering, E.T.S.I. Industriales, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 15, 1-17

Abstract: Massive integration of non-dispatchable energy into electric power systems is a challenging task. Electric power systems are becoming increasingly vulnerable in terms of frequency stability, as renewable energy displaces conventional synchronous generation from the energy mix. For this reason, grid codes are starting to demand different ancillary services from renewable generators, such as frequency control. In contrast to wind generators, which can deliver to the grid part of the kinetic energy stored in their rotating mass, photovoltaic generators must provide this service using batteries or power curtailment methods. The latter approach is preferable regarding the initial investment and its implementation cost, and several methods have been presented in the literature for this purpose. However, there is no consensus in which is the most appropriate side for operating the photovoltaic system in the curtailed mode. As both possible options have advantages and drawbacks, this paper proposes a novel photovoltaic power curtailment strategy that allows operation on both sides of the power-voltage curve depending on the needs. Moreover, in order to estimate the output characteristic of the photovoltaic system, a real-time nonlinear least squares curve fitting is applied. The proposed methodology has been tested in a simulation environment and the results show that this strategy achieves the requested active power reserves, regardless of the operation side.

Keywords: photovoltaic power curtailment; nonlinear least squares curve fitting; power-voltage curve estimation; Lambert W function (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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