Short-circuit current contribution from large scale PV power plant in the context of distribution power system protection performance

The interconnection of distributed generators (DG) to existing network may give rise to many technical problems. To ensure appropriate power quality and stability of the grid these problems should be recognized and solved. For this purpose, behaviour of such energy sources, under various disturbances, must be studied and known to the distribution grid operators. In this paper fault current contribution from large scale photovoltaic (PV) power plant as well as protection issues concerning such DGs are discussed. The mentioned problems were investigated in PSCAD model of 50 MW grid-connected PV power plant where various operating condition of the network and penetration levels of PV were considered.