The Impact of Renewable Energy Interconnection on Losses and Power Quality in Distribution Network (Case Study: Kuala Distribution System)

In line with the Indonesian National Energy Policy, which aims to have 23% of the national energy generated from New Renewable Energy (NRE) sources, PLN, as the Indonesian State Electricity Company, has implemented the use of NRE as the primary source of electrical energy to be distributed to customers. Technical requirements for the interconnection and operation of Distributed Generators (DG) have been established by PLN to ensure that they do not adversely affect the system. During operation, DGs supply active power to the grid to the maximum extent specified in their contracts. However, the supply of reactive power is minimized, and in some conditions, DGs absorb MVAR from the PLN grid. In this operating mode, the reactive power needed by the 20 kV system is mainly supplied from the PLN grid. This paper will analyze the impact of DG interconnection on the existing grid, focusing on network losses and power quality parameters such as active power flow, reactive power, voltage, and current. Furthermore, the effects of DG's power factor variations will be investigated. The research methodology utilizes simulation in the ETAP application. Two scenarios are simulated: one before DGs are connected to the grid and the other after DGs are connected to the grid with varying power factors. The study shows that integrating DGs into the existing grid has an impact on distribution losses and power quality. When DGs operate at a leading power factor, it causes an increase in network losses, but when DGs operate at a lagging power factor, network losses improved.