Impact of the PV Location in Distribution Networks on Network Power Losses and Voltage Fluctuations with PSO Analysis

Increased grid integration of photovoltaic (PV) has aggravated the uncertainty of distribution network operations. For a distribution network with PV, the impact of the PV location on the network power losses and voltage fluctuations 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 and minimum voltage fluctuations, are analyzed. A particle swarm optimization (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 that of the overall loads/end loads, the network power losses and node voltage fluctuations are both minimum when the PV is integrated into 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 fluctuations, respectively. The effectiveness of the proposed optimization approach is verified and can provide a reference for selecting the PV location in the distribution network.