Impact of PV generation to voltage variation and power losses of distribution systems

To promote the PV installation in Taiwan, a large scale photovoltaic (PV) system with total capacity of 1000kWp has been installed in a sporting complex in Kaohsiung, which is connected to the Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) distribution feeder. This paper is to investigate the impact of large PV system to the operation of distribution feeders. The PV power generation is simulated according to the hourly solar irradiation and temperature provided by the weather bureau. The voltage variation and the power system loss of the study distribution feeder are simulated by executing the three-phase load flow analysis for the impact analysis of the PV system. The results indicate that the reduction of voltage drop and power system loss can be obtained with the PV system installed to provide the dispersed generation for the local loads. However, the PV system penetration is limited due to the violation of voltage variation introduced by the large intermittent PV power generation.