Integration of roof-top solar photovoltaic systems into the low voltage distribution network

The advancement in solar photovoltaic (PV) technology, the cost and efficiency of PVs have encouraged users worldwide to adopt more and more PVs as it is free from greenhouse gas emissions and unlimited in nature. Integration of roof-top solar PV systems is currently emerging rapidly in Australia as the governments are giving attractive incentives and encouraging households to build a sustainable climate-friendly society for the future. The key major barriers to the integration of roof-top solar PV systems are the uncertainties in the performance of the low voltage distribution network due to the intermittent nature of solar PV sources. In this paper, a model was developed to investigate the potential technical impacts of integrating roof-top solar PV systems into the low voltage distribution network in a subtropical climate. The results show that integration of roof-top solar PV in the customer premises causes uncertainties such as voltage fluctuations, phase unbalance, distribution transformer overloading, reactive power compensation, and harmonic injections that detract the overall power quality of the typical distribution network.