High PV Penetration Mitigation using Reactive Power Control. Case Study: Malta

Photovoltaic systems (PVs) installations have gained condensable momentum in low voltage (LV) network integration throughout the years due to their economy of scales. PVs offer promising decentralised solutions for electrical power generation decarbonisation. However, high penetration of PVs within grid networks brings about technical challenges mainly associated with supply voltage and network utilisation factors. This paper aims to propose mitigations for voltage challenges based on real LV feeder consisting of 52 potential prosumers. The methodology uses a Monte Carlo simulation approach and evaluates two worse case PV penetration scenarios. Reactive power dispatch from PVs will be utilised according to the penetration levels to mitigate decentralised supply voltage variations. A pool of real-life 1860 consumer and 1100 PV production profiles provide the basis for stochastic data analysis. The proposed mitigation may allow higher PV penetration without any voltage issues while the utilisation factor of the feeder would require further careful monitoring