Impact of micro-inverter reactive power support capability in high penetration residential PV networks

With the steadily increasing penetration of residential and small commercial photovoltaic (PV) generation, interest has grown in utilizing this renewable generation source to support the power distribution grid, as clusters of residential solar have the potential to be used to provide reactive power support to the grid for voltage and frequency regulation through system level control and communication with the grid operator. Solar electric systems can also be used to improve voltage profiles on distribution feeders and also to provide power factor correction at the meter in each home. In this paper the impact of grid support functions of micro-inverter on the distribution network is studied for high penetration residential PV.