Impact of Renewable Energy Sources in the Power Quality of the Italian Electric Grid

Renewable energy sources (RES) are expected to be essential assets in the future smart grid. The impact of renewable energy sources in the electrical grid mainly depends on their nature, their penetration rate and the topology of the grid. This paper addresses how a representative power quality parameter (the number of voltage dips) are affected by the inclusion of renewable energy sources. Specifically, the Italian grid is analysed. This grid is of particular interest as the features of the renewable energies installed and the grid connectivity differ depending on the geographical regions. The paper studies if there is a potential linear correlation through two indices (Pearson's index and the p-value). It is generally observed that the more power the RESs deliver, the less number of voltage dips occur. However, we demonstrate that this condition does not always hold.