The Concept of Dynamic Hosting Capacity for Distributed Energy Resources: Analytics and Practical Considerations

The hosting capacity approach is presented as a planning, improving, and communication tool for electrical distribution systems operating under specific uncertainties, such as power quality issues, power stabilities, and reliability, among others. In other words, it is an important technique, when renewable sources are present, to answer the amount of power that is possible to supply to the system without trespassing power performance limits. However, the power flow in a distribution system, for instance, can change throughout time due to the penetration of distributed generation, as well as load consumption. Based on the dynamic nature existing in distribution grids nowadays, it is important to highlight that the hosting capacity should not be calculated in a specifically chosen time only, but must be analyzed throughout a period of time. Thus, this paper introduces an extended concept of hosting capacity in relation to an integrated impact of harmonic voltage distortion and voltage rise as a function of time for daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly periods. This extended concept is named as Dynamic Hosting Capacity (DHC(t)). General aspects of DHC(t) are demonstrated via measured data on a photovoltaic system (PV) connected at a low-voltage (LV) side of a university building.