Optimal Design of Grid-Connected Solar Photovoltaic System Using Selective Particle Swarm Optimization

Abstract

The electricity distribution network in Ethiopia has the radial nature of network configuration. The interruption of power is due to overloading and failure of distribution lines due to external forces, like trees, animals, and wind. The failure of the radial distribution network brings blackout in the whole power system network as there is no alternative electricity supply. The renewable energy potential of Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, especially solar power is abundant and needs a mechanism to give a response for electricity demand in the country and city other than expecting from the national grid. The solar photovoltaic system interconnection in radial feeders may bring a solution for power interruption and network performance. The sizing and siting of the solar photovoltaic system in the Ethiopian radial distribution system required an optimization tool to obtain better distribution network parameter. The power loss minimization and voltage profile enhancement of the radial distribution network are the key objectives of this research. Selective particle swarm optimization (SPSO) is used to fix the size and site of installation for network capacity enhancement. A multiobjective optimization problem is formulated so as to meet different constraints to be optimized by the SPSO. Finally, the SPSO enables determining proper size and site of solar power installation and bringing better performance in the radial distribution network of Ethiopia.

Power Quality and Performance Analysis of Grid-Connected Solar PV System Based on Recent Grid Integration Requirements

“…The solar radiation of Bahir Dar city is calculated accordingly and presented in Figure 2. As it can be noted in the figure, the solar radiation of Bahir Dar city is found in internationally accepted range (4-6 kWh/m 2 /day) which implies that this city has abundant solar energy and is feasible for solar PV installation [6].…”

“…The sunshine hour is taken to be 4-6 hours per day in most of the design [12]. The National Metrology Agency of Ethiopia Bahir Dar branch has registered the sunshine hour data of Bahir Dar city for ten consecutive years [6]. The solar radiation is then determined using the length of sunshine hour of the area.…”

“…The solar radiation is then determined using the length of sunshine hour of the area. The Angstrom-Prescott estimation model is used to approximate the monthly average daily extraterrestrial solar radiation [6,13].…”

“…Each of the particles tries to update its position based on the following information as it is also graphically shown in Figure 3 [6,17]:…”

“…A radial configuration network so-called BATA feeder which consists of a total number of 34 buses is selected as a case study for this research work [6]. Bus 1 is the reference bus whereas twenty-nine nodes are connected to loads with the help of stepdown distribution transformer and the remaining four are common coupling nodes as depicted in Figure 5.…”