Proceedings of the 1

st
International Nuclear and Renewable Energy Conference (INREC10), Amman, Jordan, March 21-24, 2010

INREC10-1
Impact of Grid-Connected PV Systems on
Voltage Regulation of a Residential Area Network in Saudi Arabia
R.A. Shalwala J.A.M. Bleijs
University of Leicester University of Leicester
Department of Engineering
Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
Department of Engineering
Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
rs234@leicester.ac.uk jamb1@leicester.ac.uk
ABSTRACT
The main objective of the presented work is to investigate the
effect of Grid-Connected Photovoltaic systems on the voltage
regulation of a residential electricity network in Saudi Arabia.
Firstly, a typical residential network is used as the base case.
Actual data for both loads and irradiance has been used to build a
realistic model. Then, two main situations are set up for peak and
light load conditions. Thereafter, the voltage profile has been
determined for critical nodes in the network with and without
different capacity of PV integration in order to define the
problem. Finally, the solutions are proposed and verified through
the simulation package.
The results indicate that even at very high penetrations of PV,
network voltage rises are small and can be mitigated by only
modest changes in the current network. This paper gives a strong
motivation to use such systems for such type of networks.

Index Terms- Distribution System, ETAP, Grid Connected,
Photovoltaic Systems, Saudi Arabia, Solar radiation, Voltage
regulation, Voltage rise
1. INTRODUCTION
Traditionally, the distribution network of the power system
is a passive network with a radial configuration. Electricity
flows one way from a substation to a large grid distribution
network. During normal operation or planning period, a
steady-state analysis of voltage regulation, system losses,
protection coordination, power quality, and system
reliability must be performed to ensure proper operation
within appropriate operating range. Each utility has its own
operation and planning criteria depending on distribution
system characteristics and philosophy of design criteria.

Currently, in Saudi Arabia, the exploitation of solar energy
as an alternative source of electric power is being
considered because of the abundant amount of irradiation
and long hours of shine. One way to this is by using Grid-
Connected Photovoltaic systems (GCPV), directly
connected to the distribution network. This means that in
the future the system performance will be affected by PV
generators. It is necessary to study the effect of PVs onto
existing networks since distribution systems with PVs are
no longer passive. According to [1-3] distributed
generation has both advantages and disadvantages to the
system. Therefore, the steady-state analysis is the first step
to examine how existing distribution system can
accommodate these changes.

Generally, distribution utilities deliver electric energy to
their customers within an appropriate voltage range to meet
customer requirements. For a radial configuration the bus
voltage, voltage drop, power flow, and power loss can be
calculated by using simplified model such as the two-bus
system [4] as shown in Fig. 1.






Figure 1. Model of a two-bus power system.

The model consists of a short distance line represented by a
series connection of resistance (R) and inductive reactance
(X). In this case, real and reactive power transfer between
bus #1 and bus #2 is calculated by eq.(1) and eq.(2).

P
12
=
12
I
1
2
cos(-o
12
) -
12
I
1
I
2
cos(0
1
- 0
2
- o
12
) (1)

12
=
12
I
1
2
sin(-o
12
) -
12
I
1
I
2
sin(0
1
-0
2
- o
12
) (2)
Power loss between bus #1 and bus #2 is also computed by
eq.(3).

P
Ioss
= |I|
2
R = _
P
12
-]
12
I
1
-
_
2
R = _
P
12
2
+
12
2
I
1
2
_ R (3)

In addition, voltage at bus #2 and voltage drop between
theses buses can be calculated in term of the voltage at bus
#1 by using eq.(4) and eq.(5), respectively.

I
2
= I
1
- (R + ]X)
(P
12
- [
12
)
I
1
-
(4)
I =
RP
12
+ X
12
I
1
(5)

12
|I
2
|z0
2
I
Z
12

= R +]X = 1
12

P
12
|I
1
|z0
1
Bus#1 Bus#2
Proceedings of the 1
st
International Nuclear and Renewable Energy Conference (INREC10), Amman, Jordan, March 21-24, 2010

INREC10-2

In a typical distribution system there are many modes to be
considered, and to handle a large system, power system
simulation software is required. In this paper, the power
systems simulation package ETAP is used for evaluating of
steady-state performance under different load and PV
generation conditions.
2. IMPACT ON DISTRIBUTION VOLTAGE
Maintaining system voltage within suitable range is
important. If the supply voltage is outside the agreed range,
equipments may fail or work incorrectly. For distribution
network, the Voltage Regulation (VR) normally varies
within 5% of a nominal voltage or between 0.95 - 1.05
pu which is used as a limitation by Saudi Electricity
Company (SEC). It is possible to control the voltage within
the limit for urban areas, a short distance of distribution
line. Utilities can regulate voltage by using On-Load Tap
Changing (OLTC) of power transformer installed at a
substation.
In contrast, it is difficult to regulate voltage in rural areas,
which have a long distance distribution line, on account of
a large voltage drop caused by customer loads. Therefore,
electric distribution utilities may install capacitor bank
and/or Automatic Voltage Control (AVC) distributed in the
system to provide a voltage boost, which cancels part of
the voltage drop. In Addition, capacitor banks not only
reduce losses by cancelling the reactive power from the
customer load, but also improve the power factor of the
system. Load variation, location, type and size of capacitor
bank affect the VR of the distribution networks. These
parameters have to be analyzed for better system
performance with optimum investment. For long
distribution lines where the voltage at the end of feeders is
outside the acceptable range, distribution utilities normally
install AVCs in those feeders with line drop compensator
(LDC). AVC is an autotransformer with automatically
adjustable taps. If the voltage is out of bounds, the
controller makes tap changes until the voltage is brought
within bounds.
In practice, the voltage level along with distribution feeder
decreases due to the voltage drop caused by system loads.
If AVC is installed in the system, the voltage level will be
raised at the secondary side of AVC. The LDC is used to
compensate Additional voltage drop on the line between
the transformer and load location, particularly, in the far
end of the feeder. If distributed generators such as PV are
installed in the distribution network, voltage profile and
system losses may be changed.
3. MODELLING OF A RESIDENTIAL AREA
NETWORK
In order to study the effect of GCPV systems on voltage
regulation of a distribution network, a typical residential
network is used as the base case as shown in Fig. 2.


Figure 2. Test residential network with 3 feeders.

The distribution network starts from the Station bus 110
kV, then a step-down 110/11 kV power transformer at each
primary substation (ISK11, RSF04, and ISK10) and
connects to a main feeder, There are 54, 42 and 48 load
nodes tapped off from the feeder ISK11, RSF04, and
ISK10 through another 24 step-down 11/0.38 kV
transformers. These main feeders are connected together
through normal open circuit breaker.
Real load data for a residential area has been collected
from the Saudi Electricity Company in the Western Region
(SEC-WR) who has also provided details of the
transformers and lines of the network. Based on this
information a detailed model of the distribution network
has been created in ETAP. Fig.3 shows the maximum and
minimum load profile for the residential area.


Proceedings of the 1
st
International Nuclear an

Figure 3. Maximum and minimum load p
residential area.

A considerable part of the load is due to a
(AC) systems and in general the load reache
between noon and 16:00 h in summer wh
are at home. This type of load can reach 65
total load during summer and since the A
motor-driven, this reduces the power fact
total load to approximately 0.85. The wint
to about 40% of summer peak load. There
situations with and without PV generation a
1. Voltage profile at peak load condit
2. Voltage profile at 40% of peak load
4. MODELLING OF PV GENER
PV generators are connected to the grid t
electronic inverters. The current gener
inverters operate at unity power factor. So
is almost the same as a Synchronous G
during steady state simulation. Therefore, a
power factor is used in ETAP to rep
generator.

Since in this paper the Building Integrati
(BIPV) system will be used to address th
system on voltage regulation, the available
selected buildings must be known. The av
roof area for PV installation on houses in a
is about 100m
2
. This figure comes out
different designs of residential houses in Sau
Fig 4. shows the satellite view of the selecte
in this study [5]. It shows also the total lan
costumer which is about 500m
2
but
constructed on about 300m
2
. Also, 100m
2

the roof space are used for the water tank an
and another part usually used as storage
which needs another area as a pathway.
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
0 3 6 9 12 15
L
o
a
d

M
W
Time
Daily load profile
d Renewable Energy Conference (INREC10), Amman, Jordan, M
INREC10-3

profile of the
air conditioning
es its maximum
hen most people
5 per cent of the
AC systems are
tor (PF) of the
er load is equal
e, the following
are studied:
tion.
d.
RATORS
through power-
rations of PV
o, their behavior
Generator (SG)
a SG with unity
present the PV

ing photovoltaic
e effect of such
roof area of the
verage available
a residential area
from about 29
udi Arabia.
ed area that used
nd area for each
the house is
in the middle of
nd its connection
e or utility area
These make it
possible to integrate 100m
2
o
particular design.











Figure 4. Satellite view of the a

The solar radiation data has obtai
King Abdul-Aziz City for Sc
(KACST) which has 40 station
recording the solar radiation every
average solar radiation that recorde
station for year 2002 is shown in Fi

Figure 5. Monthly average solar r
Fig. 5 shows clearly the large am
between 9:00 to 15:00 throughout
18 21 24
Jan
Sep
0
200
400
600
800
1000
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
S
o
l
a
r

R
a
d
i
a
t
i
o
n
(
W
/
m
^
2
)
Time
25m
20m
A
w
March 21-24, 2010
of PV or more in this

area use in this study.
ined for this study from
ience and Technology
ns around the country
y 5 minutes. The monthly
ed at Jeddah meteorology
ig. 5.

radiation, Jeddah 2002.
mount of solar radiation
t the year with minimum
6 17 18 19
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
400 W/m^2
Area of each customer land
with penalty roof space.
Proceedings of the 1
st
International Nuclear and Renewable Energy Conference (INREC10), Amman, Jordan, March 21-24, 2010

INREC10-4
value of 400 W/m^2 and maximum value of about 1000
W/m^2.

In an earlier study [6], the integration of mono crystalline
solar modules was considered. In this paper concentrated
PV modules (CPV) with 40% efficiency will be assumed.
Also, a 90% efficiency of the inverter will be considered in
designing the PV generator in order to increase the
penetration level. In this case the output power of the PV
generator which will be delivered to the customer or the
network can be estimated as:

Poutput
totuI
= Iotol solor roJiotion _
w
m
2
] Arco(m
2
)
SolorCcll cicicncy In:crtcr cicicncy
(6)

Base on the previous information and by using eq. (6), the
range power can be generated by using concentrating PV
system between 9:00 to 15:00 for each single house is
between 14.4 kW to 36 kW. These values will be used for
all customers when the GCPV system is investigated.
5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Since this study is investigating the effect of GCPV system
on the voltage regulation in the network under normal
operation (no faults), the longest branch which is ISK11 in
this study will be the most important because it will have
the largest variations for the different situations. The same
Applies for the feeder connected to the last substation along
the ISK11 branch which is I9 substation in this study.

Three scenarios for each situation have been considered:
1. Without PV generator.
2. With 14.4 kW PV generator stalled at all
costumers.
3. With 36 kW PV generator stalled at all costumers.

Then for each case, the voltage levels at each substation
along the branch ISK11 and the node voltage of each
costumer have been determined. Fig. 6 And Fig. 7 shows
the results of these calculations in details.

The results show that the integration of PV generators
increases the voltage at each substation along the branch
and also increase the voltage of each costumer. For most of
the cases the voltage level remains within the permitted
levels except for one rare case when the maximum solar
power is delivered at light load. Even at this case, the
voltage exceeds the limit for only the last two costumers of
the last feeder connected to main branch by a very small
margin. However, this problem can be solved by one of the
following methods which required only modest changes in
the current network:


Figure 6. Voltage profile of ISK11 branch.


Figure 7. Voltage profile of I9 feeder.

1. Disconnecting the PV generator at the affected
node.
2. Using the off-line tap changer of the substation
that controls the effected customers..
3. Operating the PV generator at 0.9 lagging power
factor.
4. Using the on-line tap changer at the primary
substation.

Fig. 8 and Fig. 9 show the effect of these measures and
confirm that these proposed techniques can be used to
mitigate the problem of voltage rise in the residential area.
98%
99%
100%
101%
102%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
o
f

n
o
m
i
n
a
l

V
o
l
t
a
g
e
Substation No.
at peak load at light load
with 14.4kW PV@ peak load with 14.4kW PV@ light load
with 36kW PV@ peak load with 36kW PV@ light load
96%
97%
98%
99%
100%
101%
102%
103%
104%
105%
106%
1 2 3 4 5 6
o
f

n
o
m
i
n
a
l

v
o
l
t
a
g
e
Costumer node along the feeder
at peak load at light load
with 14.4kW @ peak load with 14.4kW @ light load
with 36kW @ peak load with 36kW @ light load
Upper voltage limit
Proceedings of the 1
st
International Nuclear and Renewable Energy Conference (INREC10), Amman, Jordan, March 21-24, 2010

INREC10-5

Figure 8. Voltage profile of ISK11 branch with 36kW PVs
and light load.


Figure 9. Voltage profile of I9 feeder with 36kW PVs and light
load.

Disconnecting the generator at affected node proposed as a
strait forward method to solve voltage rise problem.
However, this solution is not desirable from the costumer
side that is most likely being the owner of the generator.
Also, the lost energy since it has been assumed that storage
batteries are not used makes this method not recommended.
Changing the off-line tap changer of the substation
transformer to -2.5% has the most effect on the voltage
profile between itself and the last costumer along the
feeder. This method reduces the voltage at the end node to
about 102.8% of nominal voltage. But it needs from DNO
to dispatch an engineer to manually alter the substation
transformers tap changers each time the voltage exceed or
goes below the limits. These cases will occur frequently
with using PV generators which changing its power during
the day and switch off at night. All of these make it difficult
to implement this method.
It seems that the most appropriate methods to deal with
voltage rise problem caused by using GCPV system in
residential area are using on-line tap changer at HV/MV
prime substation or reactive power consumption at the PV
generator.

6. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper the effect of a high penetration level of PV
generation on the voltage regulation in a residential
network has been studied. In general, the results show that
SEC has a very strong network in residential areas. The
voltage rise problem, which is considered as one of the
important issue in the use of GCPV systems is very
infrequent to happen in that type of networks. Only when
using concentrated PV technology with high efficiency at
high solar radiation and light load could the voltage limits
be exceeded. However, if it occasionally occurs, methods
such as operating the PV generator in lagging power factor
or use of the OLTC which is usually exist in the primary
station can be used to mitigate the problem.
This study will continue with an investigation of the impact
of GCPV systems on power quality and protection
coordination. Furthermore, it will investigate the impact of
GCPV systems in industrial and rural areas.
7. REFERENCES
[1] Davis, Murray W., Distributed Resource Electric Power
Systems Offer Significant Advantages Over Central
Station Generation and T&D Power Systems Part I
Proceedings of the IEEE Power Engineering Society
Transmission and Distribution Conference, Vol. 1, Jul 21-
25 2002, page(s): 54-61.
[2] Davis, Murray W., Distributed Resource Electric Power
Systems Offer Significant Advantages Over Central
Station Generation and T&D Power Systems Part II
Proceedings of the IEEE Power Engineering Society
Transmission and Distribution Conference, Vol. 1, Jul 21-
25 2002, page(s): 62-69.
[3] Puttgen, H.B.; MacGregor, P.R.; Lambert, F.C,
Distributed Generation: Semantic Hype or the Dawn of a
New Era?, Power and Energy Magazine, IEEE Vol. 1,
Issue 1, Jan-Feb 2003 page(s): 22 29.
[4] N. Jenkins, R. Allan, P. Crossley, D. Kirschen, and G.
Strbac, Embedded generation: The Institution of Electrical
Engineers, London , UK, 1995.
[5] Google Maps. Available:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl , accessed
December 2009.
[6] Shalwala, R.A.; Bleijs, J.A.M.,Impact of Grid-Connected
PV Systems in Residential Areas in Saudi Arabia,
Proceedings of the 44th International Universities Power
Engineering Conference, Sep 2009.
100.0%
100.5%
101.0%
101.5%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
N
o
d
e

V
o
l
t
a
g
e
Substation No.
disconnecting the PV generator at affected node
using -2.5% off-line tap changer @ I9 substation
PV generator operating @ 0.9 lagging power factor
using -0.25% on-line tap changer of the secondry side of ISK11 primary substation
99%
100%
101%
102%
103%
104%
105%
106%
1 2 3 4 5 6
N
o
d
e

v
o
l
t
a
g
e
Costumer node along the feeder
disconnecting the PV generator at affected node
using -2.5% off-line tap changer @ I9 substation
PV generator operating @ 0.9 lagging power factor
using -0.25% on-line tap changer of the secondry side of ISK11 primary substation
Upper voltage limit