Spatial Aggregation of Small-Scale Photovoltaic Generation Using Voronoi Decomposition

Abstract

In this paper, a methodology based in Voronoi decomposition is proposed to spatially aggregate small-scale solar generation. The locations of relevant electrical infrastructure are used to manage the uncertainty on locating solar photovoltaic installations. The known coordinates of step-down high-to medium-voltage electrical substations (i.e. bulk supply points) are used to divide the territory and find multiple representative locations where solar resource can be assessed. Modelling solar photovoltaic generation from global solar radiation observations permits the estimation of power output and degradation factor due to age for the entire small-scale photovoltaic fleet. The results are validated against multiple solar installations across the region of study (Northern Ireland, UK) and show a relatively low root mean square error with monthly values ranging from 0.036 to 0.123 kW/kWp. The proposed method is scalable to larger and smaller geographical areas and transferable to other categories of solar photovoltaic installations. This methodology can serve as a basis for multiple applications, such as solar generation forecasting. System operators could utilise this method to improve knowledge of when, where and in what amount additional resources would be required to manage solar penetration in favour of a robust, low-carbon and efficient power network.

Simultaneous Estimation of Behind-the-Meter Solar and Wind Power at the Bulk Supply Point

“…To achieve this, the seasonal difference was used here. For example, in Northern Ireland, the average solar radiation in winter is less than one-seventh of that in May/June [4][6], while wind resources distribute uniformly throughout the year. Therefore, the winter data could be used to separate wind power resources first, and then the summer data can be used to separate the remaining solar power from the net demand.…”

“…More specifically, unlike utility-scale power plants, generators in private premises are usually installed behind the electricity meters and not effectively measured, which are known as behind-the-meter generators [3] [4]. To this end, behind-the-meter generation, such as wind or solar power can be regarded as a negative load, which is unseen to the power system operators and introduces large volatility to the electric net demand [5].…”

“…Stainsby et al [17] proposed a method to isolate solar generation from net load based on the array azimuth and title, inverter model and date of installation. This may not be feasible for countries like Europe, where the exact location, characteristics of individual small-scale solar PV installations and the associated generation data are generally withheld information due to general data protection legislations [4]. Bu et al [18] proposed a semi-supervised game-theory data-driven approach for disaggregating PV generation using only smart meter data.…”

Distributed Photovoltaic Generation Aggregation Approach Considering Distribution Network Topology

“…Reference [11] presents an aggregation method involving wind power and photovoltaic correlation to accurately reflect the characteristics of original wind-photovoltaic output power, and maintain the correlation between wind-photovoltaic output power. Reference [12] proposes a methodology based on Voronoi decomposition to spatially aggregate small-scale solar generation.…”

Smart energy meter based on a long-range wide-area network for a stand-alone photovoltaic system

“…In this globalization era, the usage of renewable energy, particularly solar energy, is growing rapidly and becoming more popular either in the residential or industrial sectors (Kobylinski, Wierzbowski, & Piotrowski, 2020). Malaysia also takes an opportunity in this field by utilizing the free sources from solar energy to give benefits to citizens because the solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have accomplished a strong market growth over the last decade (Jabbar, Saad, Hashim, Zaharudin, & Abidin, 2018;Lorente, Liu, & Morrow, 2020). Solar energy is still not implanted widely throughout Malaysia; only several solar farms are deployed in certain areas, such as the Ayer Keroh, Sepang, and Gambang.…”