Impact of Large Photovoltaic Power

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 36

Research Article

Energy Exploration & Exploitation


2020, Vol. 38(5) 1774–1809
Impact of large photovoltaic ! The Author(s) 2020
DOI: 10.1177/0144598720940864
power penetration on the journals.sagepub.com/home/eea

voltage regulation and


dynamic performance of the
Tunisian power system

Abdelaziz Salah Saidi1,2

Abstract
By the year 2023, the Tunisian power transmission grid has been projected to include photovol-
taic pool of power of 937 MW, scattered throughout the whole landscape of the nation. This
paper investigates high photovoltaic energy penetration impacts voltage regulation and dynamic
performance of the grid. Load flow analysis is implemented to investigate the power system
capability for the case of incorporating the desired photovoltaic power. Computer-based simu-
lations have been used for evaluating the upgradation of the grid. Moreover, the study is based on
bifurcation diagrams taking the photovoltaic generation as a bifurcation parameter and time
response simulations to grid disturbances. Professional PSAT simulation toolbox has been used
for the power flow simulation studies. Network- related faults like outage of photovoltaic farm
event, three-phase short-circuit at a conventional bus, and voltage dip at the largest photovoltaic
station have been considered. It is hoped that the results of the presented study would benefit
Tunisian’s utility’s policies on integration of PV systems. Moreover, this comprehensive analysis
and study will be a valuable guide for assessing and improving the performance of national grid
systems of any other countries also, that gives the huge potential and need for solar energy
penetration into the grid systems.

Keywords
Photovoltaic generation margin, Tunisian power system, bifurcation analysis, grid connection
requirements, voltage regulation

1
Department of Electrical Engineering, King Khalid University, Abha City, Saudi Arabia
2
Universite de Tunis El Manar, Ecole Nationale d’Ingenieurs de Tunis, Laboratoire des Systemes Electriques. Tunis, Tunisia.
Corresponding author:
Abdelaziz Salah Saidi, King Khalid University, Abha 61411, Saudi Arabia.
Email: asaidi@kku.edu.sa

Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and
distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and
Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Saidi 1775

Introduction
Now a days, Renewable Energy Sources (RES) has become a significantly propitious aspect
in the domain of energy systems globally and many nations are building policies and
regulations for it. During the last decades, among the various RES, the solar photovoltaic
generation plants (SPVGPs) have attained a spectacular upsurge (Gul et al., 2016). This
growth of SPVGPs can be seen for applications ranging from smaller domestic, house-hold
applications to even larger scale commercial projects connected to the grid with varying
power capacities. According to the renewables global status report, approximately 505 GW
of SPVGPs had been commissioned globally by the end of year 2018 (REN21, 2019).
Power systems are predicted to experience alteration in their steady-state and also
dynamic performances due to the swift upsurge in penetration levels of SPVGPs and
trends that aim at dispensing with traditional power generation plants. Assimilating large
generation from symmetrical SPVGPs creates accompanying challenges in supporting
stability of transmission networks, during normal operation modes as well as during occur-
rence of irregular disturbances (Qutaishat et al., 2016). Such irregular conditions comprises
of faults of diverse nature, such as the bus bar or a transmission line getting exposed to
three-phase to ground fault, phase to phase fault, single-phase to ground fault and so on.
These irregular conditions may also lead to tripping of the transmission line, disruption in
the performance of the larger conventional types of generating stations and substantial load
change. Consequently, to sustain the stability of the transmission network and to maintain
the reliability of the power supply throughout day and night, the projected operational
scenarios should be identified and analyzed beforehand.
Stability and reliability are very much correlated with the specified technical boundary
requirements related to active power control, reactive power supply, voltage control, power
factor requirements, frequency requirements, fault-behavior, and protection concepts.
A grid code (GC), issued by the Transmission System Operators, is set and also imple-
mented in order to ensure the stability and reliability of such a system operation with the
rapid incorporation of SPVGPs in power system networks. For stable and reliable power
system operation, solar energy sources should not to be disconnected from the grid at the
time of temporary voltage drop due to the fault at transmission line or load switch over
operation. If most of photovoltaic (PV) systems are disconnected from the grid under such
conditions, it leads to failure of large-scale power supply and thus unstable power system.
Studies have shown that stability may be significantly affected with large PV power pene-
tration taking into regard the total power rating, fault analysis, transient stability, and
voltage drop (Daniel et al., 2017). Therefore, a high penetration of PV systems is required.
This results fault ride-through (FRT) capability, which is an essential requirement for solar
energy source to ensure the stability of power system.
Power system stability has been variously studied (Feilat et al., 2018; Gobind and Naser,
2017; Hamdy et al., 2019; Kawabe and Tanaka, 2015; Khan Mohammed et al., 2013;
Rakibuzzaman et al., 2012; Schinke and Erlich, 2018; Tamimi et al., 2013) to demonstrate
the impact of SPVGPs with high penetrations. To study the voltage and frequency stability
during normal and transient conditions of operation, DIgSILENT PowerFactory simula-
tion package has been used in (Hamdy et al., 2019). The study demonstrates the impact of
integrating high penetration levels of PV plants into the national grid of Egypt. In Feilat
et al. (2018), the impact of integrating wind power generation and large PV plants with
national grid on the performance of the Jordan’s national grid have been examined by
1776 Energy Exploration & Exploitation 38(5)

computer simulations on DIgSILENT software platform. Simulation results demonstrate


that the penetration level of the RES should not be increased beyond 10% of the annual
peak demand of Jordan in order to avoid line congestions. The impact of integrating a
1 MW PV plant to the power network of Bahrain has been examined by means of a sys-
tematic modeling and analysis using PVsyst and PSSE in (Gobind and Naser, 2017). Results
are focused to illustrate how advantage provided by the weather of Bahrain can be exploited
by PV systems to meet the peak demand. The stability of frequency and voltage of the larger
inter-connected system has been dealt in (Schinke and Erlich, 2018) by quantitative assess-
ment of the impact of high penetration of small PV units that are embedded in the distri-
bution networks. Specifically, the effect of the several provisions related to active power
control, frequency control, and voltage control during exigency situations has been analyzed
by means of a fully integrated EMT-type model for the PV power plant. A broad study
illustrating the impact of low and high levels of PV generation on the stability of the power
system, employing an equivalent model of the Ontario utility grid, eigenvalues and voltage
stability, has been presented in (Tamimi et al., 2013). The influence of the solar PV power on
the short-term voltage stability is studied in (Kawabe and Tanaka, 2015), It shows that
short-term stability of voltage is strongly impaired by voltage sag and interruption of the
solar PV power. On the other hand, Rakibuzzaman et al. (2012) presents the static voltage
stability of a power system with large-scale PV penetration. The results in this study shows
that system static voltage stability has been significantly influenced by the PV size, locations,
and the method used to integrate them, whether concentrated or dispersed. The effect of PV
generation on the Bangladeshi power system stability has been depicted in (Khan
Mohammed et al., 2013). Simulation results illustrates an improvement in voltage collapse
point near the bus and load margin for static voltage stability in the Bangladeshi power
system by injecting PV generation with different sizes located at different zones.
In brief, larger PV power plants should remain connected with the power grid throughout
large grid voltage disturbances because the disconnection of this large PV power may further
deteriorate voltage recovery during the disturbance and after fault recovery (Kim et al.,
2013). This phenomenon attracts the attention of many researchers towards the low-voltage
ride-through (LVRT) competency of PV solar plants with higher levels of generation
(Daniel et al., 2017; Moursi et al., 2013; Saı̈di et al., 2018a). Since the LVRT capability
of PV power generators supports the grid voltage recovery, the integration of PV power
plants with a varied range of generation capacity, have been studied (Ruiz, 2011; Tamimi
et al., 2011).
Effects of high penetration of PV generation on power grid frequency, power and voltage
have been explored by the researchers Feilat et al. (2018), Olusayo et al. (2019), Rahmann
and Castillo (2014), Sk et al. (2020), and Widen et al. (2010). The influence of ambient
conditions, i.e. temperature and solar radiation level, on the grid voltage, power, and fre-
quency at the switching-in instance of large-scale PV power plant with the grid have been
evaluated in (Ana and Oriol, 2016; Saı̈di et al., 2018a, 2018b). Moreover, the techniques of
integrating SPVGPs with large power generation with the power transmission and distribu-
tion networks have been presented in (Delille et al., 2012; Eftekharnejad et al., 2013; Khan
Mohammed et al., 2013). Their effect on the frequency of the transmission grid has also
been scrutinized.
A stability analysis for the Tunisian grid is done in (Abdelaziz and Helmy, 2019;
Abdelaziz et al., 2005, 2011, 2019; Saı̈di et al., 2016). This analysis does not consider the
PV systems and its impact on the grid. Saı̈di et al. (2011) have presented and discussed the
Saidi 1777

stability analysis of Tunisian grid with wind energy plant constituting five wind farms. Since
the presented stability study has not considered the integration of PV systems with the
power grid and its effect on the grid variables, the effect of integrating small PV plants
on the performance and stability of the Tunisian radial distribution networks has been
introduced in (Saı̈di et al., 2014; 2016). With this beginning, increased complexity and
changing structure of the Tunisian power system, more analysis is necessary for evaluating
voltage and frequency stability along with determining the requirements to interconnect new
large-scale SPVGPs with the Tunisian National grid.
Owing to the increasing population density in new cities, and developing industrial areas,
the Tunisian national power grid has been facing huge expansion with growing additional
energy demand. Since the government has planned for industrial development expansion
during years to come, there will be sustained growth in energy demand. In view of meeting
this growth in energy demand, Tunisian government has focused to harvest renewable
energy available in abundance in nature. This paper presents stability analysis study
about the integration of planned SPVGPs with national grid of Tunisia. This work is an
extension to a previously mentioned research. The objective of the presented work is to
assess the dynamic performance and voltage regulation of the Tunisian power system by
integrating 14 distributed PV farms with a total capacity 937 MW. The presented voltage
stability assessment is as mentioned before, based on bifurcation diagrams with PV gener-
ation used as a bifurcation parameter. The impact of the PV generation parameter on the
grid voltage profile has been simulated for the peak-load event duration. Network faults
that are simulated for the PV farms are three-phase short-circuits located at conventional
buses, withdrawal events, and voltage-dip faults occurring at the buses near the largest
SPVGPs. The outcomes are discussed in terms of dynamic performance and voltage regu-
lation capability at PV connection buses in complying with the standards for grid connec-
tion requirements.
Tunisian’s national electric network integrated with proposed SPVGPs has been simu-
lated and tested on PSAT software platform (Milano, 2005). During the last two decades,
PSAT has a history of establishing trends and standards for modeling, simulation, and
analysis of power systems. PSAT software has applicability for modeling of generation,
transmission, distribution, and industrial power systems. It has proven advantages of overall
functional integration, and the examination of these transmission systems interfaces. It is
being considered as a versatile and powerful engineering services providing tool in the
domain of electrical power systems and also has a specific applicability for the simulation
of power system incorporation of RES. It also identifies automatically the over-loading or
under-loading elements that are in the power grid. In turns, it can assist in exactly identi-
fying exactly the appropriate bus for connecting new load.
The presented paper is as a part of a planned project and based on the study to evaluate
the impact of integration with increasing level of renewable energy generation obtained from
SPVGPs on performance of national grid.
The main objectives of this paper are: (i) observing the actual solar PV generation plants
power effect on the GCs, (ii) giving a comprehensive and categorized point of view for the
FRT regulations, and (iii) presenting a useful reference of a widespread GC’s FRT capa-
bilities to be utilized and referred. To fulfill the above-mentioned objectives, this paper
presents an extensive review of fault ride through in the Tunisian GC with a prominence
on solar energy sources including low-voltage ride through and high-voltage ride through
(HVRT). Tunisia has established its GC for fulfilling the minimum required technical
1778 Energy Exploration & Exploitation 38(5)

criteria and revised it regularly to cope with new modifications of the utility. Increasing the
penetration PV sources have impacted many operational features of the power system such
as protection, power quality, reliability, and stability. There upon, regulations must safe-
guard the power system’s security and controllable operation of solar energy sources.
Analysis of voltage stability reveals that the dynamic behavior of the voltage depends
unusually on the short circuit capacity of the grid at the point of integrating the PVPs.
The main part of this paper is to study the impact of the PV plants on the performance of
the national utility grid. The validated model has been used to study and analyze the influ-
ence of the strategic PV power plants on the voltage and frequency stability of the national
power system.
The first step in the process of achieving the goal is collecting the real data of the
constituents of high voltage (225 kV) transmission networks, and the data from the trans-
formers, substations, and loads. These data have been obtained for the identified areas with
higher PV power capacity from selected regions by the TCEG and the division for transport
and production of electricity and mentioned in the next section.
Next step is the analysis and structuring of the obtained data. In step 3, a full model of
the national utility grid of Tunisia is developed and validated on PSAT platform depending
on the assessed parameters of system components from data. After that, selection of the
appropriate locations for deployment of large-scale PV power plants throughout all
the territories of the country has been accomplished. For installing SPVGPs systems, on
the basis of our previous study and consulting the plan of the Ministry of Electricity and
Energy, 14 locations have proposed. The capacity of each SPVGPs has been estimated by
evaluating the allowable bus capacity margin for integrating the SPVGPs at the proposed
location with the national grid. After this, the impact of the planned SPVGPs on the sta-
bility of frequency and voltage of the national grid have been studied and analyzed using the
validated model.

Existing status and future plan of renewable energy in Tunisia


Tunisia is a country with meager energy production, with a steady production of energy
despite a sharply increasing rise in demand. A discrepancy in the primary energy balance has
been shaped due to the disparity between energy generation and the national demand for
hydrocarbons, reaching to 49% in the year 2018 compared to just 15% in 2010 (Tractebel,
2019). When the year 2018 came to a close, the magnitude of the commissioned power
generation has spanned to the capacity of 5476 MW. Tunisian Company of Electricity
and Gas (TCEG) had a share of 5005 MW in this and 471 MW was produced by
Carthage Power Company, which is a private venture. Electricity generation has been
raised to 18,988 GWh in 2018 from 12,091 GWh in 2005, resulting in an average annual
growth rate of 4% (Tractebel, 2019). To reach the renewable energy development strategy
targets in Tunisia, a national program known as the Tunisian Solar Plan (TSP) has been
established. The TSP aims at commissioning an added installed capacity for renewable
energy of 3815 MW by 2030. The objective is to enhance the total stake of RES in electric
power generation from the current 3% to 30% by the year 2030. The targeted share from
each technology has been illustrated in the chart given as Figure 1. In order to achieve the
intermediary targets for 2020, Figure 2 projects the targets to be achieved in the installed
capacity during 2017–2020 contributed by different technologies and the regulatory scheme.
It is published by the Tunisian Government in Renewable Energy Generation Notice,
Saidi 1779

Figure 1. TSP 2030 installed capacity targets, technology-wise (MW).


PV: photovoltaic.

Figure 2. Solar power generation plan of Tunisia for 2017–2022 installed capacity targets (updated in the
Notice 01/2016) by technology (MW).
PV: photovoltaic.

01/2016. The notice exhibits targets of 650 MW for SPVGPs and 350 MW for Wind energy,
making a total RES installed capacity of 1000 MW (MESIA, 2019).
The Tunisian Government had come to a decision for updating the objectives mentioned
in the 01/2016 Notice after considering the recommendations from the Conference in
December 7 and 8 on the issue of accelerating the development of the renewable energy
project. The updated total installed capacity target has been set to 1860 MW by 2022.
Consequently, after following the revision for the targets for 2017–2020, a substantial
increase during the 2021–2025 for the total targeted installed capacity has been established
(UNDP, 2018).
Since Tunisia is a country located geographically in the solar belt region, there is abun-
dance of unharvested solar energy. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for Tunisia to
deploy solar energy harvesting schemes. Tunisia is a country in North Africa, bordering the
Mediterranean Sea in the north and east, Libya in the south-east, and Algeria in the west. It
covers an area of 163,610 km2. In its national energy planning, Tunisia has accorded solar
energy a place of priority (RES4MED, 2016; Tractebel, 2019). For evaluating the perfor-
mance of the proposed methodology in this paper, Tunisia is taken as the case study with the
locally available amount of solar energy and its distribution across the whole country.
1780 Energy Exploration & Exploitation 38(5)

According to Atlas Tunisia, average values of global horizontal irradiation for the dura-
tion of 1994–2015 (last 21 years) over the territory of Tunisia is shown in Figure 3. There is
large variation of global horizontal solar irradiation from north to south during winter and
summer. During December in the North of Tunisia, the daily average solar radiation is
about 6.9 MJ/m2/day, while in July in the South East of Tunisia (surroundings of the Gulf)
it is 28 MJ/m2/day (UNDP, 2018). It is inferred from Figure 3 that the average solar radi-
ation varies between 1600 and 2200 kWh/(m2/year) from North to south. Figure 4 presents
the mean of the annual diurnal sunshine time duration map (Chelbi et al., 2015). The
duration of annual average daily sunshine hours fluctuates between 6.7 and 9 h/day over
the Tunisian Land. These inferences help to develop prospective opportunities for investing
in diverse solar energy–related domains.
The correlation of renewable energy plants with higher scales of generation is not a new
issue in many developed countries (Afonaa-Mensah et al., 2019; Qian et al., 2019, 2020a,
2020b). According to the reports published in 2014 by the International Energy Agency
there are around 20 renewable energy generation plants on the globe with a total generation
of more than 100 MW, mostly in China and the USA. A considerable number of corporates
are participating in the advancement of this technology to harvest the unutilized energy
from sunlight and wind in to the form of usable electrical energy (IEA, 2014). Therefore,
both supplier as well as the operator of the grid have to safeguard the linking aptness of
RES with the electrical consumer. The TCEG and the Ministry in charge of Energy in
Tunisia have stipulated the technical requirements to be complied by all renewable energy
project intending for integration with the grid, as defined in the GC (JORT, 2017). In order
to avoid expensive design changes after installation it is therefore essential to ensure and
comply with the technical requirements as are applicable at the design as well as pre-design
stage by simulation, evaluation and examination of the performance of these plants prior to
testing on-site during the commissioning. To inspect the plant’s performance beforehand
specialized simulators are used to model the RES as well as the electrical utility grid.

GC requirements capabilities by PV systems


Since the unexpected increase in renewable energy integration has not been presumed
during the planning phase of conventional grid, the GCs require modification when new
RES are going to be integrated with the grid. The LVRT capability plays its role to sustain
the operation of solar power generation without sudden tripping of solar generation to the
grid during transient conditions. Eventually this evades the sudden loss of power during
transient conditions and also support the grid by providing reactive power (Maha et al.,
2018; Mehrdad and Tohid, 2018).
According to the TCEG stipulation, single generating units having capacity of 10 MVA
or more, when connected to the transmission system through a step-up transformer, should
be modeled as distinct generators. Besides, it states that collector-based systems like the
solar plants while connected to the transmission grid shall be represented as a single-
machine equivalent circuit comprising of an equivalent generator. Figure 5 shows a typical
connection diagram for the HV grid network of a PV generator with a power more than
10 MW along with a low to intermediate voltage transformer, equivalent collector circuit,
and station transformer (WECC, 2014).
Saidi 1781

Figure 3. Global horizontal irradiance over Tunisia’s landscape.

Interval-specified normal and critical frequencies in Tunisian GCs


Even in the case of frequency deviations, each generating unit should essentially deliver a
specified level of power output. For supplying rated MW, all onshore synchronous gener-
ating units must have the capability for continuous operation for any operating point
between limits of a power factor (PF) lag of 0.85 and PF lead of 0.95. Also, all on-shore
synchronous generation units should have the capability for operating continuously at any
point between the limits of the reactive power capability, as mentioned in the Generator
Performance Chart (SRF, 2014).
1782 Energy Exploration & Exploitation 38(5)

Figure 4. Map of the annual mean daily sunshine duration over Tunisia in hours.

The Tunisian GC specified that the generating units connected to the grid should have the
capability for operation on a continuous basis with constant active power output around the
normal frequency condition (49.5–50.5 Hz). While operating in the broader critical range of
frequency (47.5–49.5 Hz and 50.5–52.0 Hz), the active power outputs from the generating
units should be sustained within a certain specified range. To give an example, as is depicted
in Figure 6 (JORT, 2017), it could not be lesser than the limiting range corresponding with
the system frequency fluctuation in the range of 49.5–47.5 Hz. Also, a generating unit
connected for operation in the Tunisian grid should obey the duration requirements men-
tioned in Table 1.
A frequency control system must be coupled to the PV power plants with a nominal
power greater than 10 MW. The purpose of frequency control system is to add the capability
Saidi 1783

Figure 5. Typical connection diagram for the HV grid network of a PV generator with a power more than
10 MW.
HV: high voltage; MV: medium voltage; PV: photovoltaic.

Figure 6. Active power output requirements for Tunisian grid-connected generation units versus frequency
change in the range of 47.5–50.5 Hz.

Table 1. The requirements for generating units corresponding to variations in grid frequency of Tunisia
(JORT, 2017).

Frequency ranges Requirements

51 Hz–52 Hz Operation for a period at least 15 mn is permitted one to five times a year
50.5 Hz–51 Hz Operation for a period 60 mn continuously is permitted and 15 h cumulative
during lifetime of the installation.
49.5 Hz–50.5 Hz Continuous operation is permitted
48.5 Hz–49.5 Hz Operation for a period 5 h continuously is permitted and 100 h cumulative
during lifetime of the installation.
47.5 Hz–48.5 Hz Operation for a period at least 15 mn cumulative is permitted during lifetime of
the installation.

of frequency adjustment to PV plants, in case of rise or fall in frequency due to load var-
iation. This frequency control system permits the PV power plant to participate in primary
and secondary frequency adjustment by injecting active and reactive power to the grid in the
same way as conventional power plants. The rate of change of power per minute shall be
1784 Energy Exploration & Exploitation 38(5)

Figure 7. Typical requirements for power factor variation range in relation to the active power.

adjustable within a range of 10% of the installed power and the maximum permitted rate
indicated by the manufacturer.
In order to sustain the system voltage during the faults, conventional synchronous gen-
erators increase its excitation during disturbance via automatic voltage regulator action.
This increase in excitation means reactive power injection. Tunisian Grid Codes (TGC)
enact that the reactive current generated by PV plant must be increase during the faults.
TGC also enact the active power regulation capability that is affected by amount of active
power supplied at a particular power factor. Figure 7 explains the typical requirements for
power factor variation with respect to active power of PV farm (JORT, 2017).

Fault ride-through. According to TGC, the minimum voltage requirements that PV farms
should withstand is as shown in Figure 8 (JORT, 2017). It illustrates that each PV farm
with transient stability remains connected with the power system without failing with an
overall fault clearance time of 250 ms. Within the operating range of the PV farms, such
faults should not lead to isolation or instability from the grid. In addition, Figure 8 shows
that PV generator should have the capability for continuous operation for a voltage drop up
to zero for duration of 0.250 s. Followed by voltage recovery up to the 85% of the nominal
grid voltage at the point of common coupling (PCC) with voltage recovery duration of
30 mn. The LVRT capability in solar inverters is necessary to maintain the stability of
the grid.
Figure 9 exhibits HVRT requirements according to TGC. This needs PV farms to with-
stand faults and continue to be connected to the system within 250 ms when the grid voltage
at connection point of PV system increase to 120%. This is followed by the voltage recovery
down to 110% from the rated voltage at PCC with voltage recovery duration of 15 mn
(JORT, 2017).
Saidi 1785

Figure 8. Typical limit curve for Tunisian LVRT requirements.

Recovery duration of the PV generating unit under abnormal operation is listed in


Table 2. The grid voltages ranges are expressed in per unit.

Required dynamic reactive current injection for voltage support


For obtaining faster recovery of grid voltage, when the voltage dip occurs at PCC, the grid-
connected PV power station essentially increases its reactive current output to inject a higher
reactive power to the grid. The TGC demands that the PV power station should be capable
of withdrawing reactive power from the grid and in turn reactive current when there is
occurrence of overvoltage. The reactive current injection requirement is shown in
Figure 10 (JORT, 2017). In this GC a deadband of DUt ¼ 10% Un is defined around
Un, which is permissible rated voltage. It means 10% variation in grid voltage does not
require any injection or absorption of reactive current injection. When voltage drops below
0.9 p.u., the PV power station connected to the grid is required to inject a reactive current to
the grid proportional to the voltage deviation according to the following equation

DIq ¼ kDUt (1)

DIq is the reactive current variation before and after disturbances.


k is the slope or also known as droop, with requirement of 0  k  10 p.u.
The permissible tolerance for the injected or absorbed reactive current is DIq ¼ 20% In,
where In is the rated current. On the other hand, as the voltage exceeds beyond the
1786 Energy Exploration & Exploitation 38(5)

Figure 9. HVRT requirement according to Tunisian GC.

Table 2. The requirements for generating units with respect to the


Tunisian grid voltage variations (JORT, 2017).

Voltage ranges Requirements

0.8 Un–0.85 Un 30 mn
0.85 Un–0.95 Un 3h
0.95 Un–1.05 Un Unlimited
1.05 Un–1.1 Un 1h
1.1 Un–1.2 Un 15 mn

deadband region, the PV generator must supply reactive current by satisfying the droop k.
It must be noted that, for voltage drop of more than 50%, the reactive current is required to
supply at least 100% of the rated current.

Requirements for the supply and absorption of the reactive power. Around the allowable steady-
state voltage range (i.e. 93%Un < U < 107%Un), any PV power plant, connected to the
TCEG HV network, should have the ability for supplying and absorbing reactive power
corresponding to an over-excited and under-excited power factor 0.95 at the connection
point of the PV plant. Outside of the allowable steady state voltage range, a voltage higher
than 107% Un or below 93% Un the limits of the reactive power can be summarized
according to Figure 11.
Saidi 1787

Figure 10. Required dynamic reactive current injection for voltage support during LVRT/HVRT.
HVRT: high-voltage ride through; LVRT: low-voltage ride through.

Figure 11. The limits in reactive power range as function of voltage (P ¼ Pn) at the connection point for PV
plants with an HV connection point.
1788 Energy Exploration & Exploitation 38(5)

Figure 12. The reactive power range limits as function of active power (U ¼ Un) at the connection point
for PV plants with HV connection points.

For a power generation less than the nominal power but greater than 20% of the nominal
power, the limits for the reactive power are abridged in proportion to the active power (see
Figure 12). There is no reactive power supply requirement for the power generation P < 5%
of rated power. The requirements for supply/absorption limits of reactive power as a func-
tion of active power (U ¼ Un) for PV power plants connected to the HV grid of TCEG are
shown in Figure 12.

System modeling
Power system model
Since the transmission lines are long, they are considered using an equivalent p-network
model. At the ith bus, the resulting injected active and reactive power balance equations can
be expressed as follows (Abdelaziz, 2017)

X
N
Pi ¼ Yij Vi Vj cosðai  aj hij Þ ¼ Pgi  PLi (2)
j¼1

X
N
Qi ¼ Yij Vi Vj sinðai  aj hij Þ ¼ Qgi  QLi (3)
j¼1

where V i ¼ Vi /ai is the complex voltage at the ith bus, Y ij ¼ Yij /hij are the (i,j) ele-
ments of the admittance matrix of the grid, Pi, Pgi, and PLi denote injected active, generated,
Saidi 1789

and consumed power at ith bus, Qi, Qgi, and QLi denote injected reactive, generated, and
consumed power at ith bus, and N is the entire number of the power system buses.

Static load models


The load modeling for stability studies in power system network is a complex problem due
to the uncertain nature of the aggregated loads. These load models are typically classified
into two broad categories, i.e. static and dynamic (WECC, 2014). For active and reactive
power, common static load models are expressed in an exponential form (Milano, 2005).
These static loads can be modeled by means of constant impedance, constant current, and
constant power load models. For the constant impedance load model, real, and reactive
power are proportional to the square of the magnitude of the voltage. In the case of the
constant current load model, the real and reactive power are proportional to the voltage
magnitude. Whereas, for constant power load model the real and reactive powers have no
relation to the voltage magnitude. It is also referred as constant MVA load model. All of
these load models can be described by the following polynomial equations (Milano, 2005)
 a
Vi
PLi ¼ Po (4)
Vo

 b
Vi
QLi ¼ Qo (5)
Vo

where Po and Qo are the real and reactive powers at a reference voltage, Vo. The exponents a
and b depend on the type of the load. For constant power load models, a ¼ b ¼ 0, for
constant current load models a ¼ b ¼ 1, and for constant impedance load models, a ¼ b ¼ 2.

Dynamic models for a solar PV unit. PV generator constitutes of semiconductor devices and also
solid-state synchronous voltage source converter, i.e. DC-AC converter. Voltage source
converter in the PV generator has the function of converting an input DC input to an
output AC output voltage and supplying the active as well as reactive power into the
system. It generates a balance set of sinusoidal voltage at the fundamental frequency with
rapidly controllable amplitude and phase angle. It is analogous to a synchronous machine
except the rotating part. A typical example of a grid-connected PV generator is depicted in
Figure 13.
Figure 14 shows the block diagram for Dynamic PV Model of SPVGP. The reactive and
active power controls have been included in the inverter control module. The basic structure of
the reactive power controller is presented in Figure 14. This controller comprised of two major
parts, i.e. the voltage regulator and the power factor controller depending on the required control
task. In this work, voltage regulation has been selected for the controller options. The reactive
current command for the remote bus voltage control has been calculated by the reactive con-
troller. The reference power has been controlled by the amount of DC power coming from the
panel module. The SPVGPs possessing dynamic components as expressed below
 
did Qref :cosðtÞ  Pref :sinðtÞ =V  id
¼ (6)
dt Tp
1790 Energy Exploration & Exploitation 38(5)

CONTTROL
SYS
STEM

PV array

Grid

DC/DC Converteer DC/AC Convverter


Battery
Charger

Battery
Storage

Figure 13. Schema of SPVGP grid connection.


PV: photovoltaic.

Figure 14. Dynamic PV Model for SPVGP.


 
diq Pref :cosðtÞ þ Qref :sinðtÞ =V  iq
¼ (7)
dt Tq

According to Figure 14, the current set points has been established on the basis of
selected reactive powers, active powers and measured terminal voltages in the dq reference
frame as shown below
" # " #1 " #
id Vd Vq P
¼ (8)
iq Vq Vd Q

where the notations carry their standard meanings as in (Tamimi et al., 2013). In Figure 14,
the reference value for the reactive power has been founded by a PI controller on the basis of
the set-point and actual voltage values.

The case study. Model description. The single line diagram of Tunisian transmission
network under study has been illustrated in Figure 15. It encompasses 225 bus-bars,
Saidi 1791

Figure 15. Single line diagram of the existing transmission grid.

67 generators, 97 loads, 119 transformers, and 220 branches. The entire loading system for
active and reactive power, in the base case, are 5181.01 MW and 2162.43 MVAR, respec-
tively. The transmission system functions at four voltage levels 400 kV, 225 kV, 150 kV, and
90 kV. Table 3 presents the capacity specifications of the each generating stations included in
this study. The synchronous generator buses are considered as Gi, i is the number assigned
to generators in service, the missing i’s are the numbers assigned to generators not in service.
Each synchronous generator is fitted with an Automatic Voltage Regulator and a Turbine
1792 Energy Exploration & Exploitation 38(5)

Table 3. Data specification and capacity of the generating stations.

Bus Rating of each Voltage


number Bus code unit (MVA) PGen (MW) QGen (Mvar) level (kV)

G3 TV3 RD 232 120 105.572 15.5


G4 TV4 RD 232 120 88.227 15.5
G5 RADES2 165.30 108 89.145 15.5
G6 RADES2 165.30 108 25.446 15.5
G7 RADES2 303 219 136.408 18.0
G8 TG RDC 345 280 47.006 17.0
G9 TV RDC 201.3 130 22.888 15.5
G10 TG1 MOG 345 280 141.674 17.0
G11 TG2 MOG 345 280 156.827 17.0
G14 TG3 BMC 166 100 81.151 15.5
G15 TG4 BMC 166 100 81.151 15.5
G16 TG GL 149.25 100 25.146 14.0
G25 CC SSC 470 347.69 207.38 20.0
G26 CC SSD 470 350 215.928 20.0
G27 TG1 THYN 149.25 100 62.561 14.0
G28 TG2 THYN 149.25 100 62.561 14.0
G32 TG1CC SK 470 380 131.408 17.0
G33 TV1CC SK 200 160 64.618 15.5
G34 TG2 SKHI 470 380 111.281 17.5
G35 TV2 SKHI 200 160 45.251 15.5
G36 TG1 FRI 149.25 100 51.751 14.0
G47 CC GHNCH 500 350 108.044 21.0

Governor. The central power station of “Sousse” (470 MVA) is chosen as the slack
bus (G25).
The SPVGPs connected to buses 49 to 62 are labeled as CPV_i, where i is the name of
SPVGP with the maximum installed PV power 937 MW. Table 4 represents the SPVGPs
parameters. Each SPVGPs consists of a number of PV generators and designated by one
single equivalent PV farm at their common point, assuming homogeneous temperature and
solar radiation distribution in the PV farm with operating at power factor between 0.95
lagging and 0.95 leading. The complete scheme/structure has been realized using MATLAB/
PSAT toolbox (Milano, 2005). The system base values are 100 MVA, 30 kV, and 50 Hz.

Steady state voltage. In load flow analysis, solar PV generators are usually integrated to the
generator type PV bus because of their voltage control capability and also due to the active
power generation. On the other side, SPVGPs are considered as load buses after achieving
their reactive generation limits. Each SPVGPs have been characterized in the power network
on the basis of above hypothesis. The network voltage profile for peak load conditions have
been tested with and without PV power generation. These characteristic has been shown in
Figures 16 and 17.
It has been noted that without PV power, the PV generator connection buses operate at
low voltages. It goes down to 0.9 p.u for bus 60 “CPV_Tozeur.” Further, it slipped to 0.88 p.
u at buses 144 “Tozeur” and 154 “CPV_IPP.” These low voltage buses (buses 144 and 154)
are located in the southern transmission grid which is connected to Libyan and Algerian
Saidi 1793

Table 4. PV specifications.

Voltage at Voltage at
Bus Sbase PGen QGen PCC (kV) PCC (kV) Bus number
number Bus code (MVA) (MW) (Mvar) HV/SPVGPs HV/TCEG at HV/TCEG

49 CPV_BIR3 105 74 20.478 30 225 197


50 CPV_HAJE 55 37 10.362 30 225 201
51 CPV_BMHI 55 38 2.598 30 225 218
52 CPV_BOUS 35 30 1.388 30 225 219
53 CPV_MAZZ 105 100 16.01 30 30 220
54 CPV_LABB 55 50 15.472 30 225 221
55 CPV_IPP 55 50 8.237 30 225 223
56 CPV_IPP 210 200 11.817 30 225 224
57 CPV_IPP 105 100 18.43 30 30 225
58 CPV_KEBE 85 50 14.017 30 150 123
59 CPV_IPP 105 100 4.042 30 150 155
60 CPV_TZR 25 20 4.136 30 30 157
61 CPV_OUDD 55 38 11.733 30 150 159
62 CPV_IPP 55 50 9.458 30 30 156

Figure 16. Voltage profile for all buses in the case of static analysis with all PV power plant in peak load.

transmission grid (see Figure 18). As the tie-connections to neighboring Libyan and
Algerian networks have not been considered in these simulations, there is no reactive sup-
port from the Libyan and Algerian system grids. As a consequence, these buses operate at
lower voltages.
The voltage levels at connection buses for the peak load condition have improved without
over-voltage, by injecting the generated maximum solar power of 14 PV farms. It has
improved the voltage profile throughout the network within the acceptable tolerances
limit of 10%, according to the TGC, in general and more particularly at the PV buses.
1794 Energy Exploration & Exploitation 38(5)

Figure 17. Voltage profile for all buses in the case of static analysis without PV power plant in peak load.

Figure 18. Geographical map of the national grid with solar farms location.

Formulation of PV generation margin in the continuation form. For applying the local continuation
technique to the power flow problem, a parameter should be inserted which represents the
SPVGP. Standard power flow models have been described as constant PV or PQ generators
with reactive power limits, and static PQ or voltage dependent loads. Since the static
Saidi 1795

continuation power flow technique takes into account standard power flow models, the
obtained stability information is typically related to the maximum loading margin of the
system. However, since the presented study has emphasis on the PV active power penetra-
tion, the stability margin, k is defined as a measure of the maximum level of PV generation
margin (PGM)

PPV
i ¼ kPmax;PV
i (9)

where PPV
i is the power generation by the solar farms. In this case, a simple SPVGP model is
considered. Let us assume that the value of k lies in the interval 0  k  kcritical where k ¼ 0
corresponds to base-case solution and k ¼ kcritical corresponds to critical SPVGP.
Introducing the equations (4), (5), and (9) in the equations (2) and (3) the resulting power
flow model at the SPVG bus will be

X
N  a
Vi
0¼ Yij Vi Vj cosðai  aj hij Þ  kPmax;PV
i þ Po (10)
j¼1
Vo

X
N  b
Vi
0¼ Yij Vi Vj sinðai  aj hij Þ  Qgi þ Qo (11)
j¼1
Vo

Thus, it can be seen that the power flow equations are modified to accommodate the
parameter k.
The voltage stability limit at all the 14 sites is assessed throughout steady-state normal
operation of PV power plants. While carrying out simulation and analyzing behavior of P-V
curves, the real power generated at all these 14 buses PPV i was gradually increased until the
bus voltage reached to collapse.
This margin has been restricted by stability limits for voltage (saddle-node bifurcation or
limit-induced bifurcation) or security-related limits (voltage limits, transmission line thermal
limits). Saddle-node bifurcation (SNB) is understood as one of the most important static
factors responsible for voltage instability problems in power systems. Mathematically, an
SNB point can be solved by the following set of equations (Dobson et al., 2002)

gðy; kÞ ¼ 0

ry gðy; kÞv ¼ 0 (12)

|v|¼1

gðy; kÞ ¼ 0

ry gðy; kÞT w ¼ 0 (13)

|v|¼1 where “w” and “v” are respectively, the left and right eigenvectors.
1796 Energy Exploration & Exploitation 38(5)

Figure 19. Main bifurcations observed in PV curves: (a) SNB without QG limits; (b) LIDB followed by
an SNB.
LIDB: limit-induced bifurcation; SNB: saddle-node bifurcation.

In practice, SNB occurs at the merger of two equilibrium points, typically one of which is
stable and the other unstable to appear as the parameter k. The PV curves are depicted in
Figure 19(a) and (b) with slow change in k, where VGi stands for the ith generator terminal
voltage magnitude and QGi for the reactive power.
To solve the above-mentioned problem, a pseudo-arclength continuation strategy (Hill
and Mareels, 1990) for continuation algorithms applied to algebro-differential equations has
been implemented to investigate the effect of the smooth parameter variations on stability
properties. It comprises of a number of routines used for detecting limit points and bifur-
cations as functions of a system parameter. To determine the series of solutions, continu-
ously from y0 and using appropriate increments of k, we proceed with the help of a
predictor-corrector. The local continuation algorithm is illustrated in the form of a flow
chart in Figure 20. The proposed algorithm is used to trace the solutions of the power flow
problem when k varies in a continuous manner. This gives a faster way for estimating the
next equilibrium point on the bifurcation diagram by making modifications to the predictor-
corrector. It is possible to take larger step lengths near the nose point and divergence is
not encountered. The objective of bifurcation method is to examine qualitative changes in
the system dynamics under slow variations of distinct system parameters. These qualitative
changes can be evaluated in terms of loss of stability, start or seize of oscillations, change-
over from periodic to chaotic solutions or vice versa, etc. Bifurcation analysis helps to
forecast how and when the system may become unstable. Moreover, detailed deliberations
on the stability of power systems DAE model are elaborated in (Cutsem and
Vournas, 1998).
Since the buses, TG Zarsis, Robbana, Djerba, and CPV_LABB numbered as 48, 128,
149, and 219, respectively, have been experiencing the lowest voltage in the network, they
are selected for the bifurcation study. For the peak-load case the bifurcation diagram of
voltage at buses TG Zarsis, Robbana, Djerba, and CPV_LABB (i.e. buses 48, 128, 149, and
219) as function of PV generation margin has shown in Figure 21. It has been observed that
bifurcation occurs at a PGM value of k ¼ 2.5818 p.u. at above mentioned buses, but at
slightly different voltage levels. With SN bifurcation, the collapse voltage for all the network
buses has been shown in Figure 22. With maximum solar penetration, it is clear from Figure
22, the collapse voltage levels for bifurcation points at selected four buses are the lowest.
Saidi 1797

Start

Run Resulting Power


Flow Equation on
Base Case

Specify Bifurcation
Parameter

Compute Tangent
Vector of
Equation (10)

Check if Yes
Critical Point Stop
has been passed

No
Select Bifurcation
Parameter for next
step of Calculation

Forecast Solution
Equation

Execute Correction
Equation

Figure 20. Flowchart of the modified continuation power flow (Abdelaziz, 2017).

For example, the voltage profile at Bus 128 close to the saddle node bifurcation is lower than
0.70 p.u. It indicates that the voltage collapse can be predicted only on the basis of measured
voltage. It is concluded that the SNB is related to maximum PGM in the power flow models.
From Figure 23, it is observed that the operating point at vertical tangent to the system PV
curve lead to the voltage instability and corresponds to the singularity of the system
Jacobian matrix. It is the foremost causal aspect to voltage instability. It is further inferred
that for increased high transmission capability the transmission system must be upgraded.
Figure 23 shows the eigenvalue-locus for the selected critical buses. The bifurcation point is
substantiated by the eigenvalue-locus, which represents the variation in minimum eigenval-
ues of the power flow Jacobian with the increase in solar generation parameter. These
eigenvalue crosses the imaginary axis for k ¼ 2.5818 p.u., thus leading to a SNB point.
The maximum capacity contributed by each SPVGs are shown in Figure 24. In totality,
1798 Energy Exploration & Exploitation 38(5)

1.1
VTG ZARZI
V
ROBBANA
1 VDJERBA
VCPV LABB

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Generation margin λ (p.u.)

Figure 21. Bifurcation diagram of voltage at buses TG Zarsis, Robbana, Djerba, and CPV_LABB.

Figure 22. Voltage levels for all buses at SN bifurcation points with all PV power plant in peak load.

the maximum capacity supported by all the 14 SPVGs connected to the network
is 2185 MW.

Dynamic performance. The transient responses of grid-connected PV generators and the net-
worked synchronous generators, during the occurrence of grid faults are presented and
examined in this section. The performance of the system is analyzed in compliance with
the Tunisian grid requirement codes. In this regard, worst-case scenarios have been
Saidi 1799

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2
Imag

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
-0.16 -0.14 -0.12 -0.1 -0.08 -0.06 -0.04 -0.02 0
Real

Figure 23. Eigenvalue-locus of the power flow Jacobian matrix at SN bifurcation points.

Real Power Profile


450

400

350

300
P [MW]

250
G

200

150

100

50

0
48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62
Bus #

Figure 24. Solar power generated for 14 buses connected to PV generating stations at SN bifurcation
points.

considered. Initially, the transient response of the system has been tested for a sudden PV
power loss, i.e. the case of disconnection of all PV farms. Next, a three-phase short circuit
fault has been applied at a regular transmission network bus (bus 48 “Zarzis”). Lastly,
faulted voltage profiles have been applied at the connection bus of the largest PV farm,
i.e. CPV_IPP “bus 56.” In all the simulations, the initial conditions have been set for 100%
power output of the PV nominal power. For example, 25 C and 1000 Wb/m2 corresponding
to a PV temperature and irradiance, respectively.
1800 Energy Exploration & Exploitation 38(5)

1.005

1
Synchronous rotor speed (p.u)

0.995

0.99

0.985

0.98

0.975
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
time (s)

Figure 25. Response of synchronous rotor speed of the swing bus “G25” after all PV farms disconnection.

4.5
PCC SSC
QCC SSC
4
Active and reactive power generation (p.u)

3.5

2.5

1.5
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
time (s)

Figure 26. Variation of active and reactive power generation at swing generator bus “G25” after all PV
farms disconnection.

PV farms disconnection. For this case, all the PV farms have been suddenly disconnected from
the network by simultaneously opening all circuit breakers at t ¼ 20s. Instantly just after the
disconnection, due to the PV generation loss, the synchronous rotor speed of swing bus G25
suddenly dropped as shown in Figure 25. The steady state rotor speed is about 0.9765 p.u
corresponding to a drop in frequency and reaching down to 48.825 Hz. The secondary
control has been deactivated in the simulations.
Figure 26 illustrates the active and reactive power generation at swing bus G25 during
and after disconnection of all the PV farms. A transient peak of 4.35 p.u is being observed
for the active power generation just after the instant of disconnection of all the PV
farms and later on within short interval transient has been cleared off. A small change,
Saidi 1801

1
VTOZEUR
VMEDNINE

0.98

0.96
Voltage (p.u)

0.94

0.92

0.9

0.88
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
time (s)

Figure 27. Voltage variation at Mednine and Tozeur buses, numbered as “194” and “144,” respectively,
after all PV farms disconnection.

from 2.026 p.u to 2.1135 p.u. and dip up to 1.898 has been observed for the reactive power
generation for small interval and later on it settled to a lesser value 1.765. The synchronous
machine turbine governor action sustained for 10 s to cope up the disconnection after which
the power oscillations have been damped out and the system restored to its normal
operation.
There are a significant drop in the overall network voltage profile because of the sudden
and simultaneous disconnected of all the PV farms from the network. In particular,
for buses Mednine and Tozeur, numbered as “194” and “144,” respectively, as shown in
Figure 27. The voltage dropped from 0.9988 p.u to 0.957 p.u with a dip up to 0.941 for the
bus Mednine. On the other hand, for the bus Tozeur the voltage dropped from 0.985 p.u to
0.896 p.u with a dip up to 0.885.

Network short-circuit. Since the network bus 48 “Zarzis” exhibits weak static voltage, on the
basis of bifurcation diagram analysis, it has been chosen as the three phase fault occurring
bus in the power network. A three-phase short circuit has been applied at t ¼ 20 s, and
cleared in 150 ms. The resulting voltage profiles at buses TG Zarsis, Robbana, Djerba and
CPV_LABB are shown in Figure 28. Due to the three-phase short circuit a significant
voltage drop, reaching 0.20 p.u, has been observed at bus “48” TG Zarsis. The PV
bus CPV_LABB “54” is the geologically nearest PV bus with bus “48” TG Zarsis. From
Figure 29 it has been observed that the PV bus CPV_LABB “54” has experienced a dip in
bus voltage reaching down to 0.92 p.u due to three phase fault occurring at bus “48” TG
Zarsis. Since the PV bus has been protracted by a fast, continuously acting controller in
accordance with schema of regulation in Figure 14, the voltage regulation at all PV bus is
guaranteed. Figure 30 depicts reactive power production pattern of PV bus CPV LABB
“54” to provide voltage backing during fault period. It is observed that the PV bus
CPV_LABB “54” has been contributed the most in supporting the network voltage
1802 Energy Exploration & Exploitation 38(5)

1 V
TG ZARZI
V
ROBBANA
0.9
V
DJERBA

0.8 V
CPV LABB

0.7
Voltage (p.u)

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

20 20.05 20.1 20.15 20.2 20.25 20.3 20.35


time (s)

Figure 28. Voltage variation at buses TG Zarsis, Robbana, Djerba, and CPV_LABB after three-phase short
circuit at terminal of bus 48 “Zarzis.”

VCPV BIR3
1.08
VCPV HAJE
1.06 VCPV BMHI
VCPV BOUS
1.04
V
CPV MAZZ
1.02 V
CPV LABB
Voltage (p.u)

V
CPV IPP
1
V
C PV-IPP

0.98 V
CPV IPP
V
CPV KEBE
0.96 V
CPV IPP
V
0.94 CPV TZR
V
CPV OUDD
0.92 V
CPV IPP-

20 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 20.7 20.8


time (s)

Figure 29. Voltage variation at all 14 PV buses after three-phase short circuit at terminal of bus 48
“Zarzis.”

regulation, because the PV bus CPV_LABB “54” is the geographically nearest generating
bus to the faulted bus “48” TG Zarsis. During the transient, the PV generator active power
supply decreased because of the short circuit and has been shown in Figure 31. The results
also show that the system is stable. Also, the power network has a good transient perfor-
mance with rapid recovery of terminal voltage, reactive, and active power during and after
the fault clearance.

Voltage dip faults at CPV_IPP “bus 56.”. Since the reactive power requirements of PV farms are
within a power factor of 0.95 lag to 0.95 lead, the system performance to transient three-
phase voltage dips has been evaluated and analyzed in compliance to the GCs requirement.
The fault is applied at the heavily connected bus among the largest PV farm CPV_IPP “bus
56.” The voltage dip occurs at 20 s and persists for 150 ms with an off-peak voltage level of
60%. Figure 32 show the bus voltage behavior of all the PV farms and especially at the
Saidi 1803

QCPV BIR3
0.7
QCPV HAJE

0.6 QCPV BMHI


QCPV BOUS
0.5 QCPV MAZZ
Reactive power (p.u)

QCPV LABB
0.4
QCPV IPP
QC PV-IPP
0.3
QCPV IPP
0.2 QCPV KEBE
QCPV IPP
0.1 QCPV TZR
QCPV OUDD
0
QCPV IPP-
20 20.05 20.1 20.15 20.2 20.25 20.3 20.35 20.4 20.45 20.5
time (s)

Figure 30. Variation in reactive power at all 14 PV buses after three-phase short circuit at terminal of bus
48 “Zarzis.”

2.2
PCPV BIR3
2 PCPV HAJE
PCPV BMHI
1.8
Photovoltaic generator active power (p.u)

PCPV BOUS
1.6
PCPV MAZZ
1.4 P
CPV LABB
P
1.2 CPV IPP
P
C PV-IPP
1 P
CPV IPP
P
0.8 CPV KEBE
P
CPV IPP
0.6
P
CPV TZR
0.4 PCPV OUDD
PCPV IPP-
0.2
19.2 19.4 19.6 19.8 20 20.2 20.4 20.6 20.8
time (s)

Figure 31. Variation in active power at all 14 PV buses after three-phase short circuit at terminal of bus 48
“Zarzis.”

terminal of the CPV_IPP “bus 56” site during the fault-ride through. Instantly after the
occurrence of fault, the voltage at all the PV bus drops according to the geographical
distance of the respective PV farm from PV farm CPV_IPP “bus 56.” During the fault-
ride through these voltage start rising towards their rated values with overshoot in voltage at
some buses. These overshoots are because of low capacity of those PV farms. Immediately
after the fault is cleared at 20.15 s, as the PV farms begin a voltage regulation mode, the
voltage at the PV terminals start to reach their rated values. The active power flow through
the branch 56–224 are as shown in Figure 33. The active power output from the whole PV
farm, prior to the fault, was 200 MW. Afterward, the power initially decreases to 192 MW
during the fault and stabilizes at 196 MW before the clearance of fault. Finally, the power
resumes to 200 MW with an overshoot up to 215 MW. The mirrored characteristics of P and
1804 Energy Exploration & Exploitation 38(5)

V
1.2 CPV BIR3
V
CPV HAJE
1.1 V
CPV BMHI
VCPV BOUS
1
VCPV MAZZ
0.9 VCPV LABB
Voltage (p.u)

VCPV IPP
0.8
VC PV-IPP

0.7 VCPV IPP


VCPV KEBE
0.6 VCPV IPP
VCPV TZR
0.5
VCPV OUDD
0.4 VCPV IPP-
20 20.05 20.1 20.15 20.2 20.25 20.3 20.35 20.4
time (s)

Figure 32. Voltage variation at all 14 PV buses in the case of a 3-phase fault at terminal of largest PV farm
CPV_IPP “bus 56” site.

PCPV BIR3
2 PCPV HAJE
PCPV BMHI
1.8 PCPV BOUS
PCPV MAZZ
1.6 PCPV LABB
PCPV IPP
1.4 P
C PV-IPP
PCPV IPP
1.2 PCPV KEBE
P
CPV IPP
1 PCPV TZR
PCPV OUDD
0.8 P
CPV IPP-

0.6

0.4

0.2
19.95 20 20.05 20.1 20.15 20.2 20.25
time (s)

Figure 33. Active power variations at all 14 PV buses during 3-phase fault at terminal of largest PV farm
CPV_IPP “bus 56” site.

Q output is a sign of the controlled converter action only limited by the nominal current
rating of the converter. The reactive power decreases with increase in the active power
output and vice versa. As elaborated in section “Power system model,” the output reactive
power from PV farm at “bus 56” has been maintained at a steady state value of 0.1184 p.u
level to achieve 0.95 power factor before the occurrence of fault and illustrated by Figure 34.
Upon fault occurrence at t ¼ 20s, the SPVGP has drawn 0.41 p.u reactive power from the
grid for a few cycles. Finally, it has recovered the steady state value of 0.1184 p.u level after
the fault clearance. During fault duration, the proposed control action has to increase the
voltage at the converter terminals as shown in Figure 32. The simulation results confirm that
the PV controllers have the capability for reestablishing the voltage at the PV terminal after
Saidi 1805

0.4 QCPV BIR3


QCPV HAJE
QCPV BMHI
0.35
QCPV BOUS
QCPV MAZZ
0.3
QCPV LABB
QCPV IPP
0.25
Q
C PV-IPP
QCPV IPP
0.2 QCPV KEBE
Q
CPV IPP
0.15 QCPV TZR
QCPV OUDD
0.1 Q
CPV IPP-

0.05

-0.05
19.8 20 20.2 20.4 20.6 20.8
time (s)

Figure 34. Reactive power variations at all 14 PV buses during 3-phase fault at terminal of largest PV farm
CPV_IPP “bus 56” site.

1 V
TG ZARZI
V
ROBBANA
V
DJERBA

0.95
Voltage (p.u)

0.9

0.85

0.8

20 25 30 35 40
time (s)

Figure 35. Terminal voltage variation at the nearby buses TG Zarsis, Robbana and Djerba, during 3-phase
fault at terminal of largest PV farm CPV_IPP “bus 56” site.

the clearance of the short-circuit fault. The terminal voltage variation at the P-Q buses
namely TG Zarsis, Robbana, and Djerba, nearby of the CPV_IPP “bus 56” site, decreased
significantly as shown in Figure 35. After the fault clearance, the terminal voltage at these
buses have not been recovered to the steady state value because these buses are near the fault
location and are not augmented with voltage auto recovery capability. Further, these results
on these above-mentioned P-Q buses have been validated by the eigenvalue analysis as
shown in Figure 36.
1806 Energy Exploration & Exploitation 38(5)

2
Imag

-2

-4

-6

-8
-0.45 -0.4 -0.35 -0.3 -0.25 -0.2 -0.15 -0.1 -0.05 0 0.05
Real

Figure 36. Eigenvalue-locus of the complete system Jacobian matrix during 3-phase fault at terminal of
largest PV farm CPV_IPP “bus 56” site.

Conclusion
Investigation of voltage stability demonstrates that the dynamic comportment of the voltage
depends strangely on short circuit capability of the transmission network at the bus of
integration with the PV station. The dynamic performance of the grid has presented com-
pliance with voltage ride-through capabilities that can be improved by means of supple-
mentary reactive supply. The supplementary generation of PV power has been found to
considerably improve the voltage regulation, even in the case of over-voltages. Due to the
additional reactive power absorption capacity offered by solar generators, a significant
improvement in the system voltage regulation capability has been found. The bifurcation
diagrams of voltages showed that with high PV penetration, voltage bifurcation may occur
at higher voltages. Conferring to the bifurcation diagram, the maximum capacity of SPVGs
that can be supported and accepted by the Tunisian grid is 2185 MW. Abrupt disconnection
of PV farms results in a frequency deviation of 48.825 Hz, and voltage drop 6% of the
nominal voltage. Mostly, the south-western area of the country has been affected by this
disruption for which a secondary frequency regulation action is necessary. The all-
encompassing view is positive for future network integration of PV in Tunisia.

Acknowledgements
The author would like to acknowledge all the help, providing the data and contributions of the
Tunisian Company of Electricity and Gas.

Declaration of conflicting of interests


The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or
publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.
Saidi 1807

ORCID iD
Abdelaziz Salah Saidi https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1725-2418

References
Abdelaziz SS (2017) Stabilit eseau electrique int
e dynamique du r egrant des fermes eoliennes: Etude par
l’analyse des bifurcations. Noor Publishing. ISBN-13: 978-3-330-84756- 9. ISBN-10: 3330847565.
EAN: 9783330847569.
Abdelaziz SS and Helmy W (2019) Artificial neural network–aided technique for low voltage ride-
through wind turbines for controlling the dynamic behavior under different load conditions. Wind
Engineering 43(4): 420–440.
Abdelaziz SS, Ben Slimene M, Khlifi MA, et al. (2019) Analysis and study of two-dimensional param-
eter bifurcation of wind power farms and composite loads. Wind Energy 22(9): 1243–1259.
Abdelaziz S, Chokri B, and Khadija BK (2005) Voltage stability evaluation of the interconnected
Tunisian power system by the modal analysis technique. In: Third IEEE International Conference on
Systems, Signals and Devices, Sousse-Tunisia.
Abdelaziz S, Kilani Khadija B, Chokri B, et al. (2011) Voltage regulation and dynamic performance of
the Tunisian power system with wind power penetration. Trends in Applied Sciences Research 6(8):
813–831.
Afonaa-Mensah S, Wang Q and Bernard Uzoejinwa B (2019) Optimization of the cost of power
generation of an evolving load profile in a solar photovoltaic-integrated power system. Energy
Exploration & Exploitation 37(4): 1–20.
Ana CT and Oriol B (2016) Dynamic study of a photovoltaic power plant interconnected with the grid.
ISGT-Europe 1–6.
Chelbi M, Gagnon Y and Waewsak J (2015) Solar radiation mapping using sunshine duration-based
models and interpolation techniques: Application to Tunisia. Energy Conversion and Management
101: 203–215.
Cutsem TV and Vournas C (1998) Voltage Stability of Electric Power Systems. Boston: Klumer
Academic Publishers.
Daniel R, Antoni C, Juan M, et al. (2017) Power system stability analysis under increasing penetration
of photovoltaic power plants with synchronous power controllers. IET Renewable Power
Generation 11: 733–741.
Delille G, François B and Malarange G (2012) Dynamic frequency control support by energy storage
to reduce the impact of wind and solar generation on isolated power system’s inertia. IEEE
Transactions on Sustainable Energy 3: 931–939.
Dobson I, Van Custem T, Vournas C, et al. (2002) Voltage stability assessment: Concepts, Practices
and Tools. IEEE Power Engineering Society.
Eftekharnejad S, Vittal V, Heydt TG, et al. (2013) Impact of increased penetration of photovoltaic
generation on power systems. IEEE Transactions on Power System 28: 893–901.
Federico M (2010) Power System Modelling and Scripting. London: Springer.
Feilat EA, Azzam S and Al Salaymeh A (2018) Impact of large PV and wind power plants on voltage
and frequency stability of Jordan’s national grid. Sustainable Cities and Society 36: 257–271.
Gobind Pillai H and Naser HY (2017) Assessing the technical impact of integrating large scale
photovoltaics to the electrical power network of Bahrain. Sustainable Energy Technologies and
Assessments 20: 78–87.
Gul M, Kotak Y and Muneer T (2016) Review on recent trend of solar photovoltaic technology.
Energy Exploration & Exploitation 34(4): 485–526.
Hamdy M, Sultan AA, Zaki Diab ON, et al. (2019) Evaluation of the impact of high penetration
levels of PV power plants on the capacity, frequency and voltage stability of Egypt’s. Energies
12: 552.
1808 Energy Exploration & Exploitation 38(5)

Hill DJ and Mareels IMY (1990) Stability theory for differential/algebraic systems with application to
power systems. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems 37(11): 1416–1423.
IEA (2014) International Energy Agency Technology Roadmap Solar Photovoltaic Energy.
Paris: IEA.
Jort (2017) Journal Officiel de la Republique Tunisienne Cahier Des Charges Relatifs aux Exigences
Techniques de Raccordement et D’evacuation de L’energie Produite a Partir Des Installations
D’Energies Renouvelables. Raccordees Sur le Reseau Haute et Moyenne Tension (13): 660–693.
http://www.energymines.gov.tn/web/documents/cc-raccordementHT-MT.pdf
Kawabe K and Tanaka K (2015) Impact of dynamic behavior of photovoltaic power generation
systems on short-term voltage stability. IEEE Transactions on Power Systems 30: 3416–3424.
Khan Mohammed M, Siraj M, Shamsul Arifin A, et al. (2013) Stability analysis of power system with
the penetration of photovoltaic based generation. International Journal of Energy and Power
Engineering 2(2): 84–89.
Kim S, Kang B, Bae S, et al. (2013) Application of SMES and grid code compliance to wind/photo-
voltaic generation system. IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity 23: 5000804.
Maha Zoghlami, Ameni Kadri and Faouzi Bacha (2018) Analysis and Application of the Sliding
Mode Control Approach in the Variable-Wind Speed Conversion System for the Utility of Grid
Connection. Energies 11(4): 1–17.
Mehrdad Tarafdar Hagh and Tohid Khalili (2019) A review of fault ride through of PV and wind
renewable energies in grid codes. International Journal of Energy Research 43(4): 1342–1356.
MESIA (2019) Middle East Solar Industry Association. Solar Outlook Report.
Moursi M, Xiao W and Kirtley JL (2013) Fault ride through capability for grid interfacing large scale
PV power plants. IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution 7: 1027–1036.
Qian X, Junxiao F, Jingzhi Z, et al. (2019) Study of a new type of radiant tube based on the traditional
M-type structure. Applied Thermal Engineering (150): 849–857.
Qian X, Liu L, Feng J, et al. (2020a) A comparative investigation on the effect of different nanofluids
on the thermal performance of two-phase closed thermosyphon. International Journal of Heat and
Mass Transfer 149: 119–189.
Qian X, Zou Z, Chen Y, et al. (2020b) Performance of a novel-type of heat flue in a coke oven based on
hightemperature and low-oxygen diffusion combustion technology. Fuel 267: 117–160.
Olusayo A Ajeigbe, Josiah L. Munda and Yskandar Hamam (2019) Optimal Allocation of Renewable
Energy Hybrid Distributed Generations for Small-Signal Stability Enhancement. Energies 12(24):
1–32.
Qutaishat SA, Salaymeh A and Obeid H (2016) The dynamic behaviour of large scale Safawi PV plant
integrated to the national transmission grid of Jordan, particularly 132 kV busbar. In: Proceedings
of the Fifth Conference on Renewable and Energy Efficiency for Desert Regions GCREEDER, Aman,
Jordan.
Rahmann C and Castillo A (2014) Fast frequency response capability of photovoltaic power plants:
The necessity of new grid requirements and definitions. Energies 7: 6306–6322.
Rakibuzzaman S, Nadarajah M, Ramesh B, et al. (2012) Influence of large-scale PV on voltage stability
of sub-transmission system. International Journal on Electrical Engineering and Informatics 4(1).
RES4MED (2016) Transmission Italy-Tunisia p. Country Profile Tunisia Crea Carlo. Di Iorio Bice,
Guzzi Berardo, Terna.
REN21 (2019) Global Status Report. Renewables Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century.
Available at: www.ren21.net.
Ruiz A (2011) System aspects of large scale implementation of a photovoltaic power plant. MSc Thesis.
KTH Electrical Engineering, Stockholm, Sweden.
Saı̈di A, Bouchoucha C and Ben KK (2005) Voltage stability evaluation of the interconnected
Tunisian power system by the modal analysis technique. In: Third IEEE International Conference
on Systems, Signals and Devices, Sousse-Tunisia.
Saidi 1809

Saı̈di A, Ben KK, Chokri B, et al. (2011) Voltage regulation and dynamic performance of the Tunisian
power system with wind power penetration. Trends in Applied Sciences Research 6(8): 813–831.
Saı̈di A, Ben KK and Elleuch M (2014) Impact de la penetration photovoltaı̈que sur la stabilite de
tension d’un reseau MT. In: International Conference on Electrical Sciences and Technologies in
Magreb, Tunis, CISTEM’14.
Saı̈di A, Ben KK and Elleuch M (2016) Impact of large scale photovoltaic generation on voltage
stability in distribution networks. European Journal of Electrical Engineering 18: 117–138.
Saı̈di AM, Ben S and Mohamed AK (2018a) Transient stability analysis of photovoltaic system with
experimental shading effects. Engineering Technology & Applied Science Research (ETASR) 8(6):
3592–3597.
Saı̈di Abdelaziz Mushaf E and Ben Kilani K (2018b) Assessment of PV Systems Stability under
Temperature Variation. In: the 9th IEEE International Renewable Energy Congress (IREC).
Hammamet, Tunisia.
Schinke A and Erlich I (2018) Enhanced voltage and frequency stability for power systems with high
penetration of distributed photovoltaic generation. IFAC-PapersOnLine 51(28): 31–36.
Sk Abdul Aleem, SM Suhail Hussain and Taha Selim Ustun (2020) A Review of Strategies to Increase
PV Penetration Level in Smart Grids. Energies 13(3): 1–28.
SRF (2014) Starting regulatory framework compendium and summary of relevant codes/regulations/
contracts and practices, both existing and short-term expected, in Med-TSO systems.
Tamimi B, Ca~ nizares C and Bhattacharya K (2011) Modeling and performance analysis of large solar
photovoltaic generation on voltage stability and inter-area oscillations. In: Proceedings of the IEEE
Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Detroit, MI, USA.
Tamimi B, Canizares C and Bhattacharya K (2013) System stability impact of large-scale and distrib-
uted solar photovoltaic generation: The case of Ontario. IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy
(4): 680–688.
Tractebel (2019) Renewable Energy Projects in TUNISIA. Guide Summary. Available at: www.tuni
sieindustrie.gov.tn/upload/ENR/Guide_Summary_RE_Tunisia_mai2019.pdf.
UNDP (2018) Derisking Renewable Energy Investment 2018 – Full Results. Tunisia: UNDP.
Widen J, W€ackelgård E, Paatero J, et al. (2010) Impacts of distributed photovoltaics on network
voltages: Stochastic simulations of three Swedish low-voltage distribution grids. Electric Power
Systems Research 80: 1562–1571.
WECC (2014) Western Electricity Coordinating Council Renewable Energy Modeling Task Force,
WECC PV Power Plant Dynamic Modeling Guide.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy