Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference, AUPEC 2014, Curtin University, Perth, Australia, 28 September 1 October 2014

Impact of Variable Solar PV Generation on MV

Distribution Systems
Yasmin Nigar , Student Member, IEEE, Ashish. P. Agalgaonkar, Senior Member, IEEE and
Phil Ciufo, Senior Member, IEEE
Australian Power Quality and Reliability Centre,
School of Electrical, Computer and Telecommunications Engineering, University of Wollongong, Australia
Email: ynar729@uowmail.edu.au

AbstractThis paper addresses the impact of variable solar PV

generation on voltage profile and determines maximum allowable
active power injection by solar PV generation in distribution
system. Investigation is carried out using sensitivity analysis
methodology and tested on a sample MV (Medium Voltage)
distribution system. Variability of power production using solar
PV system is determined by estimating global solar radiation for
hourly period. Voltage sensitivity associated with active power
injections at different buses is calculated thereby determining
maximum allowable active power that can be accommodated in
the sample MV distribution network through solar PV generation.
KeywordsPV generation, Voltage sensitivity, Solar radiation,
Variability, PV penetration

I. I NTRODUCTION
The shift towards solar energy in near future is clearly
visible all over the world. For instance, in the year 2020, PV
system could provide up to 12 percent of electricity demand
in Europe and by 2030 in many sunbelt countries including
China and India [1]. In Australia, the rapid growth in the
use of PV systems is due to range of factors, including
generous government subsidies, rapid reductions in capital
costs, reduction in installation costs and a distortion in the way
electricity retail prices are structured. By 2050, PV systems
have been projected to provide 29 percent of Australias
electricity demand [2]. In the United States alone, 50 percent
of available power delivered to residential and commercial
segments may be generated by PV systems in 2020 [3]. This
transition of conventional generation to PV solar generation
is due to growing awareness of global warming, fuel scarcity
and carbon emission.
Besides these positive impacts, PV system is subjected
to large variability and uncertainty which in turn provide
intermittent power to the network. This may impose technical
challenges in distribution system such as voltage regulation,
power quality and protection. As voltage profile is of profound
concern in distribution networks, this paper addresses the
impact of variable PV generation on voltage magnitude at
different buses.
Without PV integration, the voltages along the distribution
feeder typically reduce in accordance with the line drop. However, in the event of PV generation exceeds the load demand,
the surplus power flow back to the grid which may lead to

voltage rise on the feeder. Many researchers investigated the

impact of PV on voltage profile in distribution system. Author
of [4] has illustrated the voltage rise issues due to distributed
generation through theoretical formulation. However, voltage
variation and maximum allowable DG capacity at each bus is
not analysed. In [5], impact of PV with different penetration
level on the aspects of voltage profile and losses are analysed
but the variation of load is not considered in this paper. In [6],
analysis and challenges of distribution network performance
due to high penetration of PV is investigated in terms of voltage variation, substation capacity and feeder power losses by
creating performance indices. Authors of [7] assess the effect
of high penetration levels of DG in a residential electricity
distribution network in UK by considering generation and load
variation. Nevertheless, there are no in-depth study conducted
in [6] and [7] on determining optimal capacity of PV to be
integrated in the distribution system.
With multiple PV units, voltage rise in distribution systems
could become one of the critical issues. In such case, it is
necessary to identify the maximum allowable limit for PV
penetration. In this paper, maximum allowable capacity of
Solar PV generation and voltage sensitivity due to active power
injection are analysed considering both generation and load
variability. It is assumed that solar PV generation is modelled
as a negative load. Also, it is assumed that the load demand
follows the same trend at all the buses in the sample MV
distribution system under study.
The rest of this paper is organised as follows: Section II
illustrates the Solar PV generation with the effect of solar
radiation due to variation of day cycle and effect of tilt angle
with respect to horizontal surface. In Section III, analytical
approach to determine voltage sensitivity and maximum allowable penetration of active power injection at each bus
is described. Furthermore, the simulation results for the test
system are depicted in Section IV. Section V highlights the
concluding remarks.
II. S OLAR PV G ENERATION
A fundamental step in studying the PV system is to develop
a model on examining the effect of variable solar generation.
In this section, an hourly solar radiation of a typical day
at Sydney, Australia is determined and the effect of solar
radiation with variation in day cycle and different tilt angles
to horizontal surface are plotted.

Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference, AUPEC 2014, Curtin University, Perth, Australia, 28 September 1 October 2014

Figure. 1.

Variation of global solar radiation for a year cycle at Sydney.

A. Effect of Solar Radiation due to Day Cycle

Solar radiation is a key factor in determining power produced by a PV system. The amount of solar radiation reaching
the Earths atmosphere is 1367 w/m2 and is referred as the
solar constant [8]. There are three different types of solar radiation: beam radiation, diffuse radiation and global radiation.
The three types of solar radiation under clear sky condition
is calculated using solar geometry as indicated in [8],[9]. The
average hourly solar radiation for different day in a year at
Sydney is calculated based on the location coordinates such
as: latitude, longitude and elevation of ground with respect to
sea level and is shown in Fig. 1.
B. Effect of Tilt Angle
The power incident on solar module depends not only on
solar insolation but also on the tilt angle. Tilt angle is defined as
the angle between solar module and the sun. Maximum solar
generation is obtained by placing solar panel in optimal tilt
angle so that maximum radiation is captured at solar array. The
solar radiation on tilted surface is calculated from insolation
on horizontal surface and is given by [9]:
St = Sbh Rb + Sdh Rd + Sgh pRr

(1)

where St is the monthly averaged total radiation on a tilted

surface, Sbh is the beam radiation on a horizontal surface,
Rb is the beam radiation tilt factor, Sdh is the diffuse radiation on a horizontal surface, Rd is the diffuse radiation tilt
factor of isotropic model, Sgh is the global radiation on a
horizontal surface, p is the ground reflectivity and Rr is the
ground reflected tilt factor. The detailed derivation of different
radiations and tilt factors stated in (1) can be obtained from
[9]. The hourly total radiation on tilted surface for different
angle is calculated for Sydney with the latitude of 33.933o S,
longitude of 151.17o E and altitude of 4 m above mean sea
level for the day number 360 which is 26th December. The
effect of total radiation on different tilt angle is depicted in
Fig. 2. The maximum radiation is found at the tilt angle of
60o with respect to a horizontal surface.

Figure. 2.

Variation of global solar radiation at different tilt angle.

C. Calculation of PV Output
In this paper, active power generated by a solar PV is
evaluated by considering only solar insolation. The hourly
solar radiation incident on PV array can be obtained from
(1). As the intensity of insolation is directly proportional to
solar power, the solar power generated by PV array could be
computed by using standard solar model [10]:
Ptpv =

Stpv pv
P
Srpv r

(2)

where, Ptpv is the solar power generated by the PV array, Stpv

is solar radiation incident on the PV array, Srpv is the rated
solar radiation of the PV array at standard test condition, and
Prpv is the rated power output of the PV array.
III.

VOLTAGE S ENSITIVITY D UE T O ACTIVE P OWER

I NJECTION

When PV is integrated into a specific bus of a distribution

system, the bus is subjected to substantial change in voltage.
This change in voltage due to active and reactive power
injection is known as voltage sensitivity. In this paper, injection
of active power alone is considered and voltage sensitivity is
analysed. The proposed method [11] is utilised in this paper,
where voltage sensitivity related to active and reactive power
injection can be obtained from the load flow Jacobian matrix
which is given as:

 


P
JP JP V

=
(3)
Q
JQ JQV
V
where, P is the variation in active power, Q is the variation
in reactive power, is the variation in voltage angle, V
is the variation in voltage magnitude, JP and JQ , are the
sensitivities of bus active and reactive power with respect to
voltage angles(theta1, theta 2,...) for all buses and, JP V and
JQV are the sensitivities of bus active and reactive power with
respect to voltage magnitude(V1,V2...) for all buses which are
given as:

Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference, AUPEC 2014, Curtin University, Perth, Australia, 28 September 1 October 2014

JP =

JP V

P1
1

..
.

Pn
1
P1
v1

..
.

Pn
v1

P1
n

...
..
.
...

..
.

Pn
n

...
..
.
...

P1
vn

..
.

Pn
vn

, JQ =

, JQV =

Q1
1

..
.

Qn
1
Q1
v1

..
.

Qn
v1

...
..
.
...
...
..
.
...

Q1
n

..
.

Qn
n
Q1
vn

..
.

Qn
vn

However, injection of power by solar PV generation installed

at any one bus affects all the bus voltages. Thus, the maximum
amount of active power injection is the minimum amount of
power necessary to violate the bus voltage of the system which
can be expressed by:

Ppv max
= min{Ppv 1k , Ppv 2k Ppv m
k
k }

[V ] =

1
JRP
V

[P ]

Ppv max
k
(5)

where JRP V is the reduced Jacobian matrix, which gives

voltage magnitude variation due to active power injection. The
inverse of JQ matrix is feasible only if all the buses are
modelled as PQ buses. From (9), the voltage variation due
to installation of one or more generators can be determined.
Voltage variation due to injection of solar PV generation can
be estimated as:
 1 
[Vpv ] = JRP
(6)
V [Ppv ]
where P pv is the active power output of a solar PV system,
VP V is the voltage variation due to active power injection
of PV. Therefore, the estimated voltage magnitudes after the
installation of photovoltaic generation can be expressed as
 
[V ] = V 0 + [Vpv ]
(7)
where, V 0 is the base case voltage profile. The substitution of
(6) in (7) gives:
   1 
[V ] = V 0 + JRP
(8)
V [Ppv ]
From (8), the steady state voltage variation at bus m due to
impact of PV on bus k can be expressed by,
Vm = Vm0 + JP mk Ppv k
where

1
JP mk = JRP
V mk

(9)
(10)

Using (9), the maximum power injection of solar PV at bus k

may be determined based on the maximum allowable voltage
variation of bus m, i.e.:


V max Vm0
m
Ppv k =
(11)
JP mk
Accordingly,(11) can be rewritten as,
Ppv m
k =

Vm
JP mk

(12)

where, Vm = V max Vm0 and V max is the maximum allowable

voltage limit considered for the distribution system.
The maximum allowable solar PV generation connected
at each respective bus can be directly computed from (12).

(13)

where m is the number of buses in the network. A generalised

form of (13) can be written as

V P sensitivity can be determined by assuming Q = 0 and

(3) can be rewritten as:
h
i
1
[P ] = JP V JP JQ
JQV [V ]
(4)
and

= min{JP mk Vm }
Ppv max
k

JP 11 . . . JP 1m

..
..
..

.
.
.

.
.
.
J
P
P
m1
mm

= min
V1 . . .
0

..

.
.

.
.

.
.
.

0
. . . Vm

(14)

(15)

where JP mk is a n dimensional matrix whose elements are

computed as JP mk = JP1mk and Vm is the diagonal matrix
of the respective bus. From (15), maximum PV injection per
bus can be computed directly. This sensitivity analysis method
gives accurate results and requires less computational time
compared to repetitive power flow. In this paper, analytical
method using voltage sensitivity is used to determine maximum injection of active power from solar PV generation
without voltage variations outisde the specified limits at each
bus.
IV. RESULTS AND IMPLEMENTATION
It is well known that the bus voltage rises with active
and reactive power injection by distribution generation in
distribution systems. This section presents a case study on the
impact of PV penetration on voltage and determines maximum
allowable active power injection by solar PV generation in a
MV 33 bus radial distribution system. The system load data
and line data for the base configuration are given in [12]. The
topology of the system consisting of 33 buses, 5 tie lines are
shown in Fig. 3. It is assumed all the tie switches from 33-37
are opened. The total active and reactive load of the system are
3.72 MW and 2.3 MVar respectively. The active and reactive
power losses for the base configuration are 0.11 MW and 0.08
MVar, respectively. The total system generation is 3.82 MW
and 2.84 MVar. The system base voltage is 12.66 kV and base
MVA is 10. The substation voltage is maintained between 0.95
p.u. to 1.05 p.u. without the presence of solar PV generation.
In order to study the effect of high penetration of PV,
two scenarios are considered. Scenario 1, studies the voltage
variation and determination of maximum solar PV generation
at each bus by considering variability in active power injection
alone. Scenario 2, analyses the change in voltage and determination of maximum allowable solar PV generation per bus
by considering load variability and variability in active power
injection. The load pattern considered in this paper follows
the daily load trend of a typical distribution network from
NSW, Australia. The load data for each hour is calculated by

Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference, AUPEC 2014, Curtin University, Perth, Australia, 28 September 1 October 2014

Figure. 3.

Network topology of 33 bus distribution system [12].

multiplying hourly load factor with the base load. The hourly
load factors are listed in Appendix A. The PV generation
is computed using (2) for the case of tilt angle 300 and
day number 360 for Sydney location. The hourly total load
and generation pattern is depicted in Fig. 4. These scenarios
have been analysed using voltage sensitivity methodology as
discussed in section III and the associated results are obtained
using MATLAB.
A. Scenario 1: Generation Variability
In this section, voltage sensitivity and maximum allowable
solar PV generation at each bus is determined by analysing the
effect of active power injection. Since the total demand is 3.72
MW in the following analyses, the generation of PV is limited
to 4 MW. As the active power from solar PV generation is
mostly available between 6 hrs to 18 hrs, it is assumed that
maximum active power of 4 MW is produced at noon time.
Voltage variation of each bus is examined by changing the
active power injection by PV from 6 hrs to 18 hrs. Active
power at a rate of 4 MW, 3 MW and 2 MW is injected at low
and high sensitivity bus and the voltage variation of the bus
with and without PV is analysed, without changing the base
case load. The voltage variation at each bus with and without
PV can be observed from Fig. 5 and Table. 1. It can be seen
that penetration of PV at high sensitivity bus 22 changes the
system voltage profile even if the penetration level is 2 MW.
Buses 4 and 6 maintain the voltage at all the buses up to
penetration of 3 MW, whereas buses 10 and 30 maintain the
voltage till 2 MW. Further penetration of PV to 3 MW at buses
10 and 30 exceeds the system voltage outside the limits. So the

maximum penetration at buses 10 and 30 is between 2 MW

and 3 MW.
Maximum allowable penetration of PV at each bus is
determined using an analytical methodology based on voltage
sensitivity as elaborated in Section III. The approach used
to identify maximum PV capacity injected in each bus is
by identifying the maximum generation where overvoltage
might not occur. In other words, the maximum amount of
photovoltaic generation (active power only) that can be injected
per bus must satisfy the voltage limit of 0.95 p.u. to 1.05
p.u. in all the buses as indicated earlier. The maximum active
power injection per bus on 33-bus distribution system is
diagrammatically shown in Fig. 6. In Fig. 6, the maximum
active power injection by means of solar generation is plotted
against the bus number. It is evident from Fig. 6, that the
maximum allowable PV is very low for some buses as it affects
the system voltage. However, some buses allow the penetration
of higher capacity as they are near the substation and with low
voltage sensitivity. The penetration levels of buses 4 to 33 are
in the range of 2 MW to 3.5 MW. The lowest PV and highest
PV that can be integrated into the 33-bus distribution system
are 1.7 MW at bus 22 and 5 MW at bus 2 respectively.
B. Scenario 2: Load Variability
The aim of the section is to determine the voltage variation
and maximum penetration of PV at each bus by varying load
profile and active power injection. It is assumed that all the
buses follow the same hourly load pattern. The hourly voltage
variations of each bus when PV is integrated at low sensitivity
bus 33 and high sensitivity bus 5 are depicted in Figs. 7 and

Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference, AUPEC 2014, Curtin University, Perth, Australia, 28 September 1 October 2014

Figure. 6.
Figure. 4.

Maximum allowable PV injection at each bus.

Hourly PV generation and load pattern.

8. In these figures, the bus voltage is plotted against hours and

bus. For the given load and generation, it can be observed from
Fig. 7, that integration of PV at bus 33 increases the voltage
profile not only at the bus 33 but also in other buses between
6 hrs to 18 hrs. The system voltage profile in the range of 1.00
p.u. to 1.04 p.u. significantly increases from 1.05 p.u. to 1.09
p.u. during 8 hrs to 16 hrs at buses 30 to 33 and at buses 16
to 18 respectively. The voltage profile of other buses increases
in the range of 1.05 p.u. to 1.07 p.u. from 11 hrs to 14 hrs.
From 1 hrs to 6 hrs and from 19 hrs to 24 hrs, voltages are
maintained in the allowable range of 1.00 p.u. to 1.05 p.u.
Integration of PV at bus 5 produces low voltage variation
compared to bus 33. It can be seen from Fig. 8, all the buses
maintain voltage in the allowable range of 1.00 p.u. to 1.05 p.u.
However, voltage magnitude of 1.06 p.u. is reported during 9
hrs to 16 hrs at buses 5 and 4. During other hours, voltages
are maintained within the allowable range.
As the PV generation is available from 6 hrs to 18 hrs,

the maximum penetration of PV (with active power only)

at respective bus for given load condition and generation
is determined through voltage sensitivity methodology and
is shown in Fig. 9. From simulations, it is observed that
maximum PV can be accommodated at buses near to the
substation and when the load demand is high. At 6 hrs to
17 hrs, the maximum allowable injection of PV is in the range
of almost 1 MW to 3 MW for the buses 3 to 33. As bus
2 is near to the substation, it can accommodate PV in the
range of 2.5 MW to 5 MW. During maximum generation of
PV, at 12 hrs, the system can only accommodate active power
injection in the range of 1.3 MW to 2.5 MW for the buses
between 3 and 33. At 18 hrs, although PV generation is low,
the buses can hold more PV in the range of 2 MW to 5 MW
due to maximum demand at the time. The system can have
maximum PV capacity of almost 5 MW in bus 2 at18 hrs
whereas minimum allowable generation is 1 MW in bus 18 at
6 hrs.
From the study, it is clear that the voltage sensitivity method
is more effective to determine maximum allowable penetration
limit of solar PV generation considering active power injection as compared to exhaustive power flow. The mitigation
strategies such as storage and generation curtailment during
peak production of solar PV generation should be deployed
to effectively utilise the renewable resource by maintaining
requisite voltage in the network.
V.

Figure. 5.
TABLE I.

Voltage variation of active power injection at each bus.

VOLTAGE VARIATION DATA O F ACTIVE P OWER I NJECTION
AT E ACH B US

PV injection
Without PV
2 MW
3 MW
4 MW

Bus 4
1.0341
1.0441
1.0489
1.0537

Bus 6
1.0247
1.0390
1.0460
1.0529

Bus 10
1.0181
1.0447
1.0573
1.0696

Bus 22
1.0271
1.0528
1.0650
1.0767

Bus 30
1.0086
1.0370
1.0504
1.0634

C ONCLUSION

The aim of the paper was to study the impact of variable

solar PV generation on MV distribution system and determine the maximum allowable penetration limit of solar PV
generation considering only active power injection at each
bus in the system. The model of solar radiation and load
demand has been built based on solar geometry and daily
load pattern. The voltage variation at each bus is identified
by considering variability in active power injection and load
variability. The maximum active power injection for sample distribution system is identified through the proposed
voltage sensitivity technique. The simulation results indicate
that voltage sensitivity method is more efficient method than
repetitive power flow method. Also, it is noted that, distribution

Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference, AUPEC 2014, Curtin University, Perth, Australia, 28 September 1 October 2014

Figure. 9.

Figure. 7.

Hourly voltage variation when PV is integrated at bus 33.

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]
[9]

[10]
Figure. 8.

Hourly voltage variation when PV is integrated at bus 5.

[11]

system can accommodate only certain amounts of active power

through solar PV generation without violating the system. In
such cases, mitigation measures such as storage or generation
curtailment could possibly be adopted to fully utilise the
renewable power generation thereby solving the voltage rise
problem.

[12]

Hourly maximum PV injection at each bus.

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TABLE II.
Time
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

H OURLY

Load factor
0.900
0.778
0.622
0.511
0.489
0.489
0.511
0.578
0.789
0.778
0.711
0.667

LOAD FACTOR

Time
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

Load factor
0.644
0.622
0.611
0.622
0.667
0.989
1.000
0.867
0.844
0.800
0.911
0.911