Improved integration of medium scale PV plants on the distribution network

With the uptake of embedded renewable generation on distribution networks, it is becoming increasingly challenging to maintain the network within thermal and voltage limits. The application of Active Network Management (ANM) to provide additional thermal and voltage capacity headroom has been successfully applied to connecting wind farms in recent years. Analysis was undertaken in this study to explore the extension of ANM application to solar PV plants including both the technical and the commercial implications. A real power curtailment scenario was developed and applied to a 33kV distribution network located in the South West region of the UK with a number of solar PV plants already connected and accepted to connect. Power systems network modelling was carried out that integrates a Last In First Out (LIFO) algorithm to assess the representative levels of curtailment over a typical year. The results indicate that by applying an ANM technique to the network, the connection of an additional 22MW of PV (35% increase on the installed capacity) was achieved while curtailing the annual generation output of the additional plants by 12% only. A high level commercial assessment suggests that the deployment of ANM for PV plants generates substantial net benefits compared to a traditional network reinforcement approach.