Analysing the PV output variability and its mitigation through aggregation in Queensland, Australia

Aggregation of photovoltaic (PV) plants has a potential to reduce the variability in power output to enhance large-scale integration of PV plants with power systems. Nevertheless, effectiveness of aggregation has to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis for various PV plants. This paper performs a quantitative analysis to investigate the reduction in PV output variability in Queensland, Australia by considering two utility scale PV plants. Based on some existing results, a PV output prediction model is developed, which explicitly takes into account the module temperature. This model is then used to predict the PV output of a modeled PV plant and aggregates it with the existing PV plant at The University of Queensland. Substantial reductions in ramp rate variability are observed through the aggregation for all the four seasons with most reductions obtained for the summer season.