Evaluation of the Reactive Power Support Capability and Associated Technical Costs of Photovoltaic Farms’ Operation

Luís F. N. Lourenço, Renato M. Monaro, Maurício B. C. Salles, José R. Cardoso and Loïc Quéval
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Luís F. N. Lourenço: Laboratory of Advanced Electric Grids (LGRID), Escola Politécnica, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-010, Brazil
Renato M. Monaro: Laboratory of Advanced Electric Grids (LGRID), Escola Politécnica, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-010, Brazil
Maurício B. C. Salles: Laboratory of Advanced Electric Grids (LGRID), Escola Politécnica, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-010, Brazil
José R. Cardoso: Laboratory of Advanced Electric Grids (LGRID), Escola Politécnica, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-010, Brazil
Loïc Quéval: Group of Electrical Engineering—Paris (GeePs), UMR CNRS 8507, Centrale Supélec, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Sorbonne Université, 3 & 11 rue Joliot-Curie, 91192 Plateau de Moulon Gif-sur-Yvette CEDEX, France

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 6, 1-19

Abstract: The share of photovoltaic (PV) farms is increasing in the energy mix as power systems move away from conventional carbon-emitting sources. PV farms are equipped with an expensive power converter, which is, most of the time, used well bellow its rated capacity. This has led to proposals to use it to provide reactive power support to the grid. In this framework, this work presents a step-by-step methodology to obtain the reactive power support capability map and the associated technical costs of single- and two-stage PV farms during daytime operation. Results show that the use of two-stage PV farms can expand the reactive power support capability for low irradiance values in comparison to single-stage ones. Besides, despite losses being higher for two-stage PV farms, the technical cost in providing reactive power support is similar for both systems. Based on the obtained maps, it is demonstrated how the profits of a PV farm can be evaluated for the current ancillary services policy in Brazil. The proposed method is of interest to PV farm owners and grid operators to estimate the cost of providing reactive power support and to evaluate the economic feasibility in offering this ancillary service.

Keywords: solar farm; photovoltaics; reactive power support; STATCOM; technical costs (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: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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