Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Abstract— Power system voltage stability is of paramount network, and study concluded that solar-PV model parameters
importance to maintain a secure and reliable power network with have a greater influence on the voltage stability. Also, the
high penetration of renewables. This paper investigates the study highlighted the importance of the available reactive
impact of the solar photovoltaic (PV) generation on long-term power reserve in the system, but the study did not thoroughly
voltage stability of a power network. Long-term voltage stability
investigated the influence of the reactive power reserve on
is investigated using the Nordic-32 bus test network comprised of
dynamic models of automatic voltage regulators (AVRs), long-term voltage stability. According to the German grid
overexcitation limiters (OELs) and on-load tap changing (OLTC) code [11], solar-PV systems are required to provide 100%
transformers combined with static and dynamic loads. The reactive power (based on the rated current of the inverter) to
investigation is conducted using an aggregated solar-PV system the grid when the point of common coupling (PCC) voltage
operating at voltage control mode under various loading drops below 50%. Therefore, it is imperative to investigate the
conditions. A systematic approach has been followed for solar-PV reactive power capability of solar-PV systems to ensure the
integration. The results show that solar-PV systems enhance the long-term voltage stability of the power system with the high
long-term voltage stability of a stressed transmission grid when penetration of solar-PV generation. Also, the impact of solar-
they operate under low loading conditions due to the improved
reactive power support provided by solar-PV systems.
PV generation on long-term voltage stability has been not
fully investigated by following a systematic approach.
Index Terms— Automatic voltage regulator (AVR), long-term Moreover, long-term voltage stability is one of the key issues
voltage stability, overexcitation limiter (OEL), on-load tap of concern after the transient period, following a large
changer (OLTC), solar- photovoltaic (PV) system. disturbance in the network. Therefore, further studies should
be carried out to analyse the impact of solar-PVs on the long-
I. INTRODUCTION term voltage stability of the transmission grid by considering
their control features. In particular, it is important to consider
Worldwide capacity of solar-PV generation is increasing
the effects of their operating point and control strategy.
rapidly, due to improved efficiency, cost-competitiveness, and
wide-scale acceptation of climate change issues as a On the other hand, power networks become more stressed in
consequence of greenhouse gas emission from power recent years, due to the excessive growth of demand and
generation [1]-[2]. Both the large-scale and small-scale solar- effective utilisation of generation facilities [13]. Long-term
photovoltaic (PV) systems are connected increasingly to the voltage instability is the main concern for a stressed network,
transmission, sub-transmission and distribution networks; as the power system components, such as on-load tap
hence it is imperative to investigate the stability impact on the changing (OLTC) transformers and overexcitation limiters
network. A number of research studies have focused on the (OEL) may operate closer to their limits, and hence the power
impact of solar-PV generation on transient stability [2]-[3], network has an insufficient reactive power reserve to support
small-signal stability [4]-[7], and short & long-term voltage the network voltage during a contingency. Therefore, the
stability [8]-[10]. As the existing synchronous generators are impact of large-scale solar-PV generation on a stressed power
decommissioned with the increased penetration of solar-PV network should be thoroughly investigated.
generation, it is imperative to shed light on the voltage The objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of
stability issues with high penetration of solar-PV generation. solar-PV generation on long-term voltage instability. This
The short-term voltage stability study presented in [8], has study was conducted using the Nordic-32 bus test network.
reported that short-term voltage stability is severely affected The rest of the paper is organised as follows. Section II
by solar-PV generation due to the fault ride-through (FRT) presents the long-term voltage stability phenomena and the
issues associated with solar-PV systems. Also, this study operating mechanisms of the main contributing devices to
reports some countermeasures to overcome these drawbacks long-term voltage stability. The solar-PV and test network
from solar-PV generation. Research investigations presented models are briefly described in Section III. In Section IV, the
in [9]-[10], investigated both short- and long-term voltage long-term voltage stability of power grid with high penetration
stability with the solar-PV generation in the sub-transmission of solar-PV generation on Nordic-32 bus test system is
Fig. 2: Long-term voltage stability; (a) Bus-4 Voltage, (b) Bus-3 The dynamic simulation model of the solar-PV system is
Voltage. mainly comprised of four main blocks; the photovoltaic model
Afterwards, the OLTC transformer (i.e. TR-1) attempts to (solar-PV array), the DC busbar and capacitor model, power
restore the voltage at the load bus (i.e. bus-3) while lowering controller and the static generator model. The solar-PV array is
its tap position (see Fig. 3). This has subsequently reduced the constructed by series and parallel connected solar-PV modules
bus-4 voltage further. In order to restore bus-4 voltage, the and operated at the maximum power point (MPP). The solar-
PV model is capable of responding to varying solar- irradiation
978-1-5386-4950-3/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
and ambient temperature conditions (this could be achieved by power during the majority of the day, (see Fig. 7), and hence
input to the ‘Solar irradiation’ and ‘Temperature’). In this solar-PV systems have a substantial reactive power capability
study, it is assumed that both temperature and solar irradiation during the majority of the time. Therefore, it is essential to
are constant during the fault condition, hence it is not necessary investigate the long-term voltage stability phenomenon at both
to build a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) system. In full load and partial load conditions.
the simulation model, active power dispatch level is set at the
static generator, and once the model is initialized, respective
solar irradiance and temperature levels are calculated and
maintained constant within the model.
The solar-PV system operated in the voltage control mode,
and it activates voltage control mode when the terminal voltage
of the solar-PV system decreases below 0.9 pu. During normal
operation, active power reference (Pref) is calculated based on
the DC-link voltage (Vdc_m), while the reactive power
reference (Qref) is generated based on the terminal voltage
(Vac_m) at the solar-PV system. By comparing the voltage
references with voltage measurements, current references are
generated at the controller and subsequently fed into the static
generator model. It must be noted that static generator model is Fig. 7. Typical solar-PVsystem generation curve.
represented as a current source model, and it has an inbuilt
current controller. A schematic of a power and current C. Test Network Model
controllers of the solar-PV model are shown in Fig. 5. In this study, the dynamic Nordic-32 bus test network has
been used for the long-term voltage stability assessment [17].
1 1 1
The Nordic-32 bus test network is comprised of 74 buses, 20
Kp 1+ Kd 1+
( 1 + sTr ) sT
p sTd generators, 22 loads, 102 branches, 5 series compensators, 9
shunt capacitors and 2 shunt reactors. This system consists of
four areas; North, Central, Equiv and South. All generators are
equipped with an automatic voltage regulator (AVR), power
1 1 system stabiliser (PSS) and overexcitation limiter (OEL).
1 Kq 1+
KQ 1+ sT
( 1 + sTr ) sT
Q
q
Distribution transformers have on-load tap changers (OLTCs).
All loads are represented by the exponential load model. Fig. 8
Fig. 5. The solar-PV model power and current control schemes.
shows the single-line diagram of the test system. As seen from
Where, Vac_ref, Vdc_ref, Tr, KP, KQ, TP, Tq, Kd, Kq, Td, Tq Idm, the Table I, the system is heavily loaded with large transfers
Iqm, Id_ref, Iq_ref, md, and mq denote ac voltage reference, dc from North to Central area. For example, the Central region
voltage reference, low-pass filter time constant, active power has a 6190 MW active power load and has only 2850 MW
PI controller gain, reactive power PI controller gain, active active power generation, hence active power is imported to
power PI controller integration time constant, reactive power central region.
PI controller integration time constant, d-axis PI controller
gain, q-axis PI controller gain, d-axis PI controller integration 4047 4011 1011 1013
1012 1014
g2
The solar-PV inverters can independently control active and 2032 2031 4031
g12
4032
NORTH
reactive power [16]. Fig 6 illustrates the capability curve of g8
g13 g14
g7
4062 1041 4: 400 kV 1045 1042
2: 230 kV
g6
SOUTH g17 1: 130 kV
4063 4045 4051 4047
g18 CENTRAL g16 g15