Comparison of Economical and Technical Photovoltaic Hosting Capacity Limits in Distribution Networks

Samar Fatima, Verner Püvi, Ammar Arshad, Mahdi Pourakbari-Kasmaei and Matti Lehtonen
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Samar Fatima: Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Aalto University, Maarintie 8, 02150 Espoo, Finland
Verner Püvi: Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Aalto University, Maarintie 8, 02150 Espoo, Finland
Ammar Arshad: Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute, Topi 23460, Pakistan
Mahdi Pourakbari-Kasmaei: Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Aalto University, Maarintie 8, 02150 Espoo, Finland
Matti Lehtonen: Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Aalto University, Maarintie 8, 02150 Espoo, Finland

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-23

Abstract: Power distribution networks are transitioning from passive towards active networks considering the incorporation of distributed generation. Traditional energy networks require possible system upgrades due to the exponential growth of non-conventional energy resources. Thus, the cost concerns of the electric utilities regarding financial models of renewable energy sources (RES) call for the cost and benefit analysis of the networks prone to unprecedented RES integration. This paper provides an evaluation of photovoltaic (PV) hosting capacity (HC) subject to economical constraint by a probabilistic analysis based on Monte Carlo (MC) simulations to consider the stochastic nature of loads. The losses carry significance in terms of cost parameters, and this article focuses on HC investigation in terms of losses and their associated cost. The network losses followed a U-shaped trajectory with increasing PV penetration in the distribution network. In the investigated case networks, increased PV penetration reduced network costs up to around 40%, defined as a ratio to the feeding secondary transformer rating. Above 40%, the losses started to increase again and at 76–87% level, the network costs were the same as in the base cases of no PVs. This point was defined as the economical PV HC of the network. In the case of networks, this level of PV penetration did not yet lead to violations of network technical limits.

Keywords: distributed photovoltaics; economical analysis; grid losses; PV hosting capacity (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: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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