Economic evaluation of the enhancing scheme with DSTATCOM for PV penetration in Taipower distribution systems

This paper presents an economic evaluation of the enhancing voltage control scheme with DSTATCOM for PV penetration in Taipower distribution systems. During peak solar irradiation period, the hybrid voltage control scheme with DSTATCOMs and active power curtailment is utilized to avoid the voltage violation problem and thus to increase the PV installation capacity and to reduce the feeder loss as well. The annual savings from the feeder loss reduction, the annual revenue of PV power sales, the initial capital investment cost for a PV project with or without a DSTATCOM, and the operating and maintenance (O&M) cost are then taken into account to evaluate the benefit and cost of the PV investment. The paper covers analyses of net present value (NPV), benefit-cost ratio (BCR), incremental BCR, and payback period (PP) for a new PV project or an existing one to employ the enhancing scheme with DSTATCOMs. With proper selection of PV and DSTATCOM capacities, the investment can be very profitable. Comparison of the results by these indicators is also presented. Besides, a sensitivity analysis is performed to handle project uncertainty with respect to some affecting parameters and to provide some useful information for making any promotion policy for the development of solar PV industry.