Enhancing PV Hosting Capacity Using Voltage Control and Employing Dynamic Line Rating

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) system installation has encouraged to be further expedited to minimize climate change and thus, rooftop solar PV systems have been sparkled in every corner of the world. However, due to technological constraints linked to voltage and currents, the PV hosting capacity has been substantially constrained. Therefore, this paper proposes a competent approach to maximize PV hosting capacity in a low voltage distribution network based on voltage control and dynamic line rating of the cables. Coordinated voltage control is applied with an on-load tap changing transformer, and reactive power compensation and active power curtailment of PV inverters. A case study with probabilistic and deterministic assessments is carried out on a real Sri Lankan network to show how the PV hosting capacity is constrained. The findings revealed the capability of integrated voltage control schemes and dynamic line rating in maximizing hosting capacity. The study is expanded by incorporating the PV rephasing approach in conjunction with the aforementioned control techniques, and the effectiveness of PV-rephasing is clearly demonstrated. When compared to voltage control and conductor static rating, the combined rephasing, voltage control, and DLR yielded a 60% increase in PV hosting capacity.