Effectiveness of Traditional Mitigation Strategies for Neutral Current and Voltage Problems under High Penetration of Rooftop PV

A high penetration of single phase rooftop photovoltaic (PV) units have the potential to exacerbate the existing neutral current and voltage problems in low voltage 4-wire distribution networks. This paper investigates the effectiveness of traditional strategies for mitigation of neutral current and voltage problems in the presence of a high penetration of rooftop PV. This paper analyses the limitations of traditional methods to mitigate neutral current and voltage problems caused by rooftop PV. The analysis shows that in the presence of unbalanced rooftop PV allocation, new mitigation strategies are required. The application of energy storage is explored in this paper as a potential mitigation strategy to reduce the neutral current and voltage problems. Results show that the reduction in neutral voltage by the application of energy storage can be achieved, within the acceptable limit, under daily variations of load demand and PV output.