Voltage rise impacts and generation modeling of residential roof-top photo-voltaic systems

Environmental drivers have seen an exponential uptake of residential photo-voltaic (PV) systems in many parts of the world. PV intermittency and unpredictability have presented new challenges to the electricity generation, transmission and distribution sectors. From a power quality perspective, these PV systems cause additional flicker, unbalance and steady-state voltage fluctuations within distribution networks. The installation of residential smart meters with voltage monitoring facility in the state of Victoria, Australia, has detected increased steady state voltage violations at PV sites. To rectify these voltage violations and to allow for future increases in the number of PV installation connections, a model of PV kW output in response to solar irradiance and temperature has been developed. This innovative PV model has been developed from meteorological, irradiance and Smart Meter data without the need for detailed experimentation and testing of individual PV units.