Impact of PV location in distribution network on network power losses and voltage swing

Increased grid integration of photovoltaic (PV) has aggravated the uncertainty of distribution network operation. For a distribution network with PV, the impact of the PV location on the network power losses and voltage swing is investigated with analytical derivations reflected by the line impedance. Optimization approaches of the PV location with consideration of two aspects, i.e. minimum network power losses, minimum voltage swing, are proposed. A PSO algorithm is used to synthesize an optimal compromised solution so as to determine the PV location. A 10 kV distribution network with one PV is established on the time-domain simulation environment PSCAD/EMTDC. The simulation results justify the theoretical analysis and indicate that when the active power of the PV is more/less than twice of that of the overall loads/end loads, the network power losses and node voltage swing are both minimum when the PV is integrated to the head/tail end of the network. When the active power of the PV is between the above two conditions, nodes t/f can be identified for the integration of the PV between the head/end nodes of the network to achieve the minimum network power losses/voltage swing, respectively. The effectiveness of the proposed optimization approach is verified and can provide a reference for selecting the PV location in the distribution network.