Impacts of Residential PV and BESS on Distribution Network Performance

Residential photovoltaic (PV) generation and battery energy storage systems (BESSs) are environmental-friendly and can help power network customers to save on electricity bills. The penetration of residential PV and BESS increased significantly in recent years. However, the operation of residential PV and BESS cannot be controlled by the power system operator. The behavior of PV and BESS that maximize customers' interest may lead to the adverse effect on the power network. This paper investigates power network performance under multiple scenarios, considering the load variation, PV generation variation, BESS charging/discharging and the location and penetration of PV and BESS. The simulation results show that the voltage drop/increase along the feeder can reach around 0.06 p.u. under extreme conditions. The BESSs located at the downstream of the feeder have more influence on the power network performance.