Generation modelling of residential rooftop photovoltaic systems and its applications in practical electricity distribution networks

Abstract

Environmental drivers have led to rapid uptake of residential photovoltaic (PV) systems in many parts of the world. PV intermittency and unpredictability have presented new challenges to the electricity generation, transmission and distribution sectors. The outputs of these residential PV systems cannot be determined by their DC rating alone, but are dependent on a number of installation and environmental parameters. A model of PV kW output in response to solar irradiance and temperature has been developed without the need for detailed experimentation and testing of individual PV units. Accuracy of the proposed model has been verified and its potential applications for electricity distribution networks are demonstrated.

Keywords:

• Power quality
• Steady-state voltage
• smart meters
• photovoltaic systems
• solar output model

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to express their appreciation to Victoria University for granting a research scholarship and to Jemena Electricity Networks for contributing smart meter data to this research project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.