High PV Penetration Impact on European-based LV Residential Network

The impact of high PV penetration into the grid particularly at the distribution side has been extensively studied. However, most of the available research focuses on North American style systems. This project aims to investigate the effect of high PV penetration at a residential area in a European-based distribution network, which is electricity supply system Malaysia is based on. The modeling is done using OpenDSS while the network model used is the IEEE European Low Voltage Test Feeder which consists of 55 loads representing a generic housing area. Each load point is then equipped with a 4 kW PV system-representing a typical size for a house installation. PV output variability is then introduced into the modeling using two sample days of actual irradiance variability obtained from UTeM Malaysia; one for clear day and another for a high variability day. Voltage unbalance, voltage rise and reverse power flow were analyzed. One significant finding of this project is that voltage rise exceeds the standard of 1.05 pu during noon. Besides that, the high variability days significantly affect the mitigation measures required to manage reverse power flow

IoT-based electricity energy monitoring system at Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

Electricity bill is one of the major operating expenses in most of the commercial buildings and industrial plants. Thus, the buildings’ energy management system is an essential element that should be utilized to optimize the energy usage and hence, contributes to carbon footprint reduction. To achieve this, one needs to first understand how the energy is being used in the buildings before any saving measures can be identified and proposed. Therefore, this paper presents the development of an Internet of Things (IoT) enabled device that can communicate with different digital energy meters through modbus protocol. The prototype has been successfully installed in three locations in the main campus of Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM). The proposed solution enables the campus-wide energy usage to be monitored and stored efficiently and economically as opposed to the capital-intensive SCADA system

Quantification Of Voltage Profiles Intermittency For Small-Scale Solar Photovoltaic System Under Different Loading Conditions

The recent rapid uptake of solar photovoltaic system in Malaysia has introduced new challenges to the operation of the power grid, particularly on the voltage profile of distribution networks. An intermittent nature of the voltage fluctuation that caused by solar output remain as important topic as how these rapid voltage changes will affect the operation of the network. Hence, this paper presents a quantification of voltage profiles intermittency for small-scale solar photovoltaic system under different loading conditions. Actual field measurements have been performed for both high and low loading conditions. Mainly two parameters have been analysed for this work, namely voltage profile and solar power output. An intermittency quantity of voltage profile during solar generation for day time is higher than night time, which indicates high intermittent in solar irradiance causing rapid fluctuation in solar generation. Furthermore, increased voltage magnitude was observed during the low load condition. The high voltage intermittency caused by rapid fluctuation of solar output and voltage rise during low load giving a negative effect on distribution network. It is expected that grid-connected battery energy storage system could serve as the potential solution to alleviate both solar intermittency and voltage raise issues

Performance Evaluation Of Various Solar Photovoltaic Module Technologies Under Tropical Climate Conditions At Melaka, Malaysia

The system performance of a grid-connected solar photovoltaic system is one of the most important parameters to monitor the health of the system. This study aims to evaluate the performance of three (3) PV module technologies, namely Thin-Film (TF), Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer (HIT) and monocrystalline which are installed at Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) under Malaysia tropical climate conditions. Actual annual solar resources and PV system’s energy output were recorded for two (2) consecutive years, i.e., 2014-2015 using the weather station and solar monitoring system installed in the laboratory. The annual average final yield of the PV systems ranged from 1452-1579.5 kWh/kWp/year. The average annual performance ratio of the 3 PV systems ranged from 80-91.4% while the average annual capacity factor of the 3 PV systems ranged from 16.5-18%. The average annual system losses of the 3 PV systems ranged from 154.46-302.15 kWh/kWp while the average annual array capture losses of the 3 PV systems ranged from -6.36-59.71 kWh/kWp. Outdoor assessment shows that the thin-film PV system had the highest performance ratio and capacity factor. Furthermore, the thin-film PV system produced the lowest system losses and array capture losses, compared to HIT and monocrystalline PV system

A review of perovskite solar cell (PSC) : Its revolution and mathematical modelling

Perovskite solar cell (PSC) is one of the third-generation type of solar cells that has high efficiency and can be produced at a lower cost compared to silicon-based solar cells. However, one of its core problems is the uncertainty of its short-and long-term stability. To minimise this risk, proper modelling is required to assess its potential performance before fabrication. Modelling of PSC is also important to prevent wastage of time and optimise material use. This work provides a comprehensive review of current PSC circuitry and the electrochemical modelling techniques available. Circuitry modelling relates to the operation conditions where PSC is represented by an equivalent circuit model that contains a resistor, diode, photo-generated current source, and others. Meanwhile, electrochemical modelling refers to the operation mechanism of PSC and can be represented by mathematical equations that include parameters of charge density of the layers, drift, diffusion, generation, and recombination process of charge carriers. This paper also summarizes the numerical algorithms and modelling simulations used such as SCAPS, AFORS-HET, COMSOL Multiphysics, MATLAB to evaluate PSC model performance. Through this paper, a summary of the modelling results has been compiled covering various aspects of fabrication including the material’s layer thickness, doping concentration, electron affinities as well as temperature distribution within the PSC during operation

Impacts Of Solar Variability On Distribution Networks Performance

The Distributed Generation (DG) and renewable energy resources have been identified as one of the promising ways to sustain the future energy needs. However, most of the energy produced by DG and renewable energy, particularly the Photovoltaic (PV) system is intermittent in nature and often fluctuates. In this regard, this paper utilizes the Malaysian Reference Network (RN) that aims to analyse the impact of PV integration at the medium voltage (MV) network under solar variability conditions. More precisely, the network losses and voltage issues were evaluated on various PV variability indices (VI). This case study has been carried out in the urban and rural MV networks. Various PV variability days have been considered in the case study. The results show that fluctuation of network losses and voltage could pose a concern for PV integration on the MV network

Shading Analysis For The Siting Of Solar Pv Power Plant

Solar Photovoltaic (PV) system is environmentally-friendly which could reduce the consumption of electricity from the non-renewable energy sources. However, the generation of the PV system is highly dependent on weather conditions. More specifically, the shading of PV modules is a common phenomenon which can affect the performance of the PV system. Hence, this paper aims to establish relationship between the distance of a PV plant from a building object and its associated height. To achieve this, the Solar Pro software is used to simulate the shading conditions and estimate the PV systems’s output. For validity, the data of PV energy, total irradiation, Peak Sun Hour and performance ratio obtained from the simulation were compared with the Meteonorm software. The findings from this research suggest the relative distance of a PV plant should be located in relationship to its nearest building object. It is expected that such findings will provide a good rule-of-thumb for the solar PV system designer in selecting the viable project site

Strategy to reduce solar power fluctuations by using battery energy storage system for UTeM's grid-connected solar system

Recent years have witnessed the increasing uptake of solar photovoltaic (PV) installations, ranging from a few kilowatts for residential rooftops to a few megawatts for large-scale solar farms. One of the key challenges for the solar PV systems is its dependency on the solar energy, which is intermittent in nature and highly unpredictable. In this regard, battery energy storage system (BESS) is regarded as the effective solution that can smoothen the output power fluctuation from the solar PV system. Hence, this work utilized BESS that had fast response time with high power and energy density to reduce the solar output fluctuations from a real grid-connected solar system installed at the campus rooftop. The characteristic of the PV power fluctuation and the BESS storage requirement to smooth out the fluctuation within the allowable limit were determined and analyzed. More importantly, actual solar irradiance data with an interval of one minute was utilized in this work. The findings suggest that BESS with 66% of the installed solar capacity and 21% of the average daily solar generation of the installed system are required to smoothen the solar fluctuation that exceeds the ramp rate limit of 10%/min

Transmission Losses Allocation in Deregulation Electricity Market

The restructuring of Electricity Supply Industry (ESI) all over the world that started mainly in the 20th century introduces an open electricity market for trading electricity between generators and suppliers in competitive environments. This transformation consists of two aspects that are related with each other; restructuring and privatization. However, due to this change, some problems and challenges have risen. One of it is the issue of power losses allocation. When electrical power is transmitted through a network, it will cause power losses. The generators must compensate this loss by generating more power. Under competitive electricity market environment, no generators would want to generate more to compensate this loss as it will increase their production cost. Logically both generators and consumers are supposed to pay for the losses because they both use the network and thus are responsible for the losses incurred. If there is no specified method to handle this problem, there is a probability that the Independent System Operator (ISO) which is a non-profit entity and does not have source of income will be responsible for this losses. However, if ISO paid for the losses, it is considered unfair. It is the market participants who should cover up the cost of losses. Thus, this analysis focuses on some existing allocating transmission losses and loss cost methods. The selected methods are pro rata, proportional sharing and novel pricing and these methods have been tested using simple bus network and the IEEE standard 14 test bus system