Power Quality and Reliability Considerations of Photovoltaic Distributed Generation

Worldwide energy consumption is increasing at a faster pace than energy generation because of enhanced industrialization, growing population and, improved living standards. Using the Distributed Generation (DG) near the end consumers can support the electrical grid stability and enhance the power system quality. The DG is consisting of a small-scale technology to generate electrical power near the end consumers, which can be renewable energy or generators. Solar Photovoltaic (PV) system is considered as one of the best renewable energy sources, due to its low running cost and low environmental affection comparing with traditional power plants. The proposed PVDG units are employing maximum power point tracking (MPPT) system to track the maximum power available in PV arrays. The proposed DG system used Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique to optimally allocate the PVDG units for minimum cost, transmission line losses, and improved voltage profile of busbars under different operating conditions. This paper proposes a smart optimization technique employing PSO in the design, operation, and control of the proposed system. Also, the paper discusses the PSO algorithm for optimal DGs sizing and allocations. The simulation in this paper uses the IEEE-7 busbars system with an extension of IEEE-3 busbars as a new remote load. The simulation has been carried out by the power world simulator software to compare the voltage and the power losses with and without PVDGs connected to the system. The simulation results showed an acceptable reduction in generating cost, transmission line losses, and improvement of the busbars voltage profile which proves the success of the proposed system.