Methodology to Estimate the Financial Impacts of the Integration of PV Generators in Distribution Systems on Voltage Sags and Energy Losses

Abstract

In this paper, a methodology is proposed to, on the one hand, estimate gains on electric utilities with the minimization of annual financial losses due to voltage sags (FL <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">sag</sub> ) and cost of energy losses (S <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">EL</sub> ) as a result of financial investments on photovoltaic systems (C <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">PVS</sub> ) and, on the other hand, identify subsidies that can be offered by utilities to the end users aiming to cover part of the initial C <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">PVS</sub> . The gains and subsidies are estimated by the identification of ideal locations and sizing of PVS, which considers the global minimization of C <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">PVS</sub> , FL <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">sag,</sub> and S <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">EL</sub> . The methodology is applied to a real distribution network with 670 busbars. The results show that it is possible to achieve gains of 3.9% in FL <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">sag</sub> and 25% in S <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">EL</sub> and to offer subsidies to low-voltage PV owners between 14.5% and 16.5% of total C <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">PVS</sub> to achieve strategic benefits for both electric utilities and end users. The identified gains and subsidies aim to offer fair tariffs to end users and to complement other economic incentives already offered by the government to increase the penetration rate of renewable energies.