Effect of Wind Energy Penetration Scenario on Power Quality and Power Losses of Distribution Networks

Among the types of renewable energy sources, wind energy is considered as one of the most preferable ones. Integration of wind energy into a distribution networks affects the system losses and voltage regulation. In addition, power quality issues such as voltage fluctuations, harmonics and flickers are also affected. Thus, the integration of wind energy could cause problems to load and equipment of power system. In this paper, the power quality and power losses in addition to the voltage regulation will be investigated in distribution networks comprising high penetration of wind energy sources. This includes connecting wind energy at different locations for various penetration levels. The standard IEEE 13-bus system is considered as the investigated network. Doubly-fed induction generators (DFIGs) driven by wind turbines WTs are used to supply a distribution network. The entire system is modeled using MATLAB Simulink software. In order to evaluate the power quality, power losses and voltage regulation, the system is tested under several conditions such as different high-penetration levels of wind energy, load variation and wind speed variation. The results show that the location of wind energy has a dominant effect on power quality in distribution networks.