Investigation to Determine the Impacts of SPV Penetration on an Unbalanced Distribution Grid

As the shift towards renewable energy sources (RES) generally increase to mitigate climate pollution caused by fossil fuel-based energy generation, the impact of integrated Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) generation on the distribution grid voltage magnitude and power losses need to be studied. A modified IEEE 13 bus distribution network was selected for this study. The network was modeled and simulated in MATLAB/Simulink implementing snapshot power flow solution for the analysis. Four different simulation scenarios were considered to evaluate different SPV penetration level on the grid. Results obtained shows that the network voltage profile and system losses significantly reduce with SPV penetration compare with the result obtained without SPV. It is observed that 40% penetration level is most acceptable to maintain a satisfactory voltage level and reduce the situation of reverse power flow as higher penetration level upsurges power losses on the grid.