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MASTER OF ENERGY
Assignment 6
All over the world, solar power technologies is becoming more affordable and,
consequently, it is expected that the installation of solar PV (photovoltaic) panels will
grow considerably in the next years, including in New Zealand. This growth will result
in an increasing of the PV penetration level and will cause some impacts on the grid,
mostly on the distribution system, where the PV panels are connected. One of these
impacts is disturbances in the voltage: rise and fluctuation. The voltage rise happens
because solar PV panels inject power directly on the distribution system, resulting in a
voltage rise at the connection point and in the network around it and the voltage
fluctuation is caused by voltage dips originated from clouds passing over plenty of PV
systems (Thomson & Infield, 2007). These impacts need to be managed because the
grid operators have the obligation to maintain the voltage in peoples houses within a
specific range.
Distribution grid, especially those of low voltage, has its own characteristics and
is very different from the transmission grid (for example, distribution networks are
unbalanced, have a constant variation of the load and the resistance-reactance R/X
ratio is larger when compared to transmission systems). A small distribution system
with a high PV penetration level can easily lose its stability if the PV power goes to
zero, what usually happens due to cloud coverage. Due to solar PV panels only generate
active power and the high R/X ratio, variation in active power generation will result in
voltage fluctuation and not in frequency variation, as happens in transmission system
(Yan & Saha, 2012). So, it is necessary to manage the voltage to keep the system stable
and reliable, because it is not possible to manage the active power generation this
depends directly on the momentary radiation.
There are some solutions available to ensure voltage stability. It is possible to
estimate the maximum solar PV penetration based on voltage requirements of the
countries. On that way, the issues associated with voltage rise would be excluded, but
this is not a good solution because prevents the growth of the quantity of installed solar
PV. For example, based on the UK standard, the maximum PV penetration level in the
grid is 33% in order to avoid voltage rise issues (Thomson & Infield, 2007). Another
similar method is the curtailment of the active power that is injected into the distribution
grid and the installation of batteries by the PV owners to avoid energy losses. One way
to make this happens is the implementation of feed-in tariffs in order to incentive the
power self-consumption, as is implemented in Germany (Braun, Arnorl, & Laukamp,
2009). This is not an effective solution but is an easier and fast to be implemented,
although, many potential PV owners could lose the interest to install the PV panels.
Another possible solution is the installation of inverters on the PV systems that
have the technology of controlling the voltage rise up to the specified limit (Yan &
Saha, 2012), although, this inverter also presents a disadvantage. The inverter utilises
the PV active power output to control the voltage rise, decreasing the efficiency of the
PV panels, and this a big issue, because the efficiency of the system is always a priority
and should be maximised whenever possible. A PV inverter that manages reactive
power to control the voltage rise has been proposed by many researches, but this
technology is against some countries standard, as Australia, and IEEE standard.
In relation to the voltage fluctuation, a great solution is to install energy storage
systems, as batteries, to provide a power backup, because, as discussed before, the
voltage fluctuates because of the drop of PV active power output (Yan & Saha, 2012).
This is a very good solution, but the storage systems are still very expensive.
Currently, New Zealand does not have a high solar PV penetration level. In
2015, solar PV generated only 34 GWh out of a total of 42,989.7 GWh generated across
the country, which is not even 1% of the total (MBIE, 2015). One reason for this low
penetration is because New Zealand does not offer subsidies for PV generation and the
energy buy-back rate is far below what is necessary to make the investment worthwhile
(Watson, Watson, Santos-Martin, Wood, Lemon, & Miller, 2016). Although, as
mentioned before, it is expected a change in that situation, because the technology is
becoming cheaper. If it is in the interest of the government to help accelerate this
growth, it is a good idea to implement subsidy policies.
A study developed in 2016 by Watson, Watson, Santos-Martin, Wood, Lemon
and Miller simulated different levels of solar PV penetration in New Zealand
distribution grid in order to evaluate the possible maximum limits of penetration and
effective methods to control overvoltage issues. As result, the research concluded that
the New Zealand urban distribution network can host between 10 and 15% of solar PV
penetration without relevant issues. The simulation showed that the voltage will
increase, but this overvoltage will not be higher than the New Zealand limit of 1.06 pu.
To be able to achieve a higher penetration, some methods were tested and the method
that presented a better performance was the installation of PV inverters capable of
reactive power control.
New Zealand has a good solar irradiation, the grid is capable of hosting a much
larger amount of solar PV panels than the current amount and there are technologies
available to support the voltage management. The cheapening of technologies and the
implementation of government subsidy policies will be decisive in the growth of solar
power in the power system of New Zealand.
Braun, M., Arnorl, G., & Laukamp, H. (2009). Plugging into the zeitgeist. IEE Power &
Energy Magazine, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 63-76.
MBIE. (2015, September 17). Electricity. Retrieved June 2017, from Ministry of
Business, Innovation & Employment: http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/sectors-
industries/energy/energy-data-modelling/statistics/electricity
MBIE. (2016, November 22). Electricity Demand and Supply Generation Scenarios
2016. Retrieved June 2017, from Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment:
http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/sectors-industries/energy/energy-data-
modelling/modelling/electricity-demand-and-generation-scenarios/edgs-2016
Pathak, A., Sharma, M., & Bundele, M. (2015). A critical review of voltage and reactive
power management of wind farms. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 51,
460-471.
Samarasinghe, C., & Abeyratne, S. (2007). Technical Solutions of Wind Farms to meet
Emerging Grid Code Requirements.
Vong, N., & Ancell, G. (2008). Effect of wind generation on reactive power
contribution and dynamic voltage responses - (Wind Generation Investigation Project
- Investigation 9). Transpower.
Watson, J., Watson, N., Santos-Martin, D., Wood, A., Lemon, S., & Miller, A. (2016).
Impact of solar photovoltaics on the low-voltage distribution network in New
Zealand. IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution, vol. 10, pp 1-9.
Yan, R., & Saha, T. K. (2012). Investigation of Voltage Stability for Residential
Customers Due to High Photovoltaic Penetrations. IEEE Transactions on Power
Systems, vol. 27, no. 2, pp 651-662.
Zavadil, R., Miller, N., Ellis, A., Muljadi, E., Camm, E., & Kirby, B. (2007). Queuing
Up - Interconnecting Wind Generation into the Power System. IEEE power & energy
magazine, 47-58.