Assessing impacts of very high penetration of distributed Photovoltaic on real MV network feeders

This paper analyses the 11 kV Medium Voltage (MV) networks using real network and load data. High penetration Photovoltaic (PV) connected to a MV feeder is modeled using RETScreen to estimate the output power based on meteorological and geographical data. Simulations are run across 24 hour period to see the voltage fluctuations, active and reactive power behavior, load profile, power loss and energy losses. Case studies shows that high penetration of PV can cause voltage drops and increase in power and energy losses of a distribution feeder. Voltage control, reactive power support and power curtailment will be needed due to high penetration of PV.