Techno-Economic Assessment of Local Control Strategies for PV Inverters in the Dutch LV Distribution Networks

Abstract

The high penetration of solar photovoltaic systems in the low-voltage distribution networks creates the overvoltage problems, causing the decrease in energy yields of existing PVs and hinder new PVs from being connected. Among the available solutions, local control strategies, including active power curtailment and reactive power absorption, for PV inverters based on droop control methods are widely used. In this paper, a comprehensive techno-economic assessment of PV inverters operating with the local control strategies for overvoltage mitigation is provided. The technical part assesses the local control performance with different setting values. The economic part compares the local control with several network planning approaches. A case of study based on real smart meter data and two LV distribution networks from The Netherlands is used. The obtained results show that active power curtailment is an economically viable option to mitigate overvoltage problems, while reactive power absorption help to reduce economic compensation.