Abstract
The increasing deployment of distribution-connected photovoltaic (DPV) systems requires utilities to complete complex interconnection studies. Relatively simple interconnection study methods worked well for low penetrations of photovoltaic systems, but more complicated quasi-static time-series (QSTS) analysis is required to make better interconnection decisions as DPV penetration levels increase. Tools and methods must be developed to support this. This paper presents a variable-time-step solver for QSTS analysis that significantly shortens the computational time and effort to complete a detailed analysis of the operation of a distribution circuit with many DPV systems. Specifically, it demonstrates that the proposed variable-time-step solver can reduce the required computational time by as much as 84% without introducing any important errors to metrics, such as the highest and lowest voltage occurring on the feeder, number of voltage regulator tap operations, and total amount of losses realized in the distribution circuit during a 1-yr period. Further improvement in computational speed is possible with the introduction of only modest errors in these metrics, such as a 91 percent reduction with less than 5 percent error when predicting voltage regulator operations.
Original language | American English |
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Number of pages | 8 |
State | Published - 2017 |
Event | 2017 IEEE 44th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) - Washington, D.C. Duration: 25 Jun 2017 → 30 Jun 2017 |
Conference
Conference | 2017 IEEE 44th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) |
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City | Washington, D.C. |
Period | 25/06/17 → 30/06/17 |
Bibliographical note
See NREL/CP-5D00-73964 for paper as published in IEEE proceedingsNREL Publication Number
- NREL/CP-5D00-67769
Keywords
- distribution
- interconnectino
- photovoltaic
- PV
- QSTS
- quasi-static time-series analysis