Impact of connecting renewable energy plants on the capacity and voltage stability of the national grid of Jordan

This paper presents the impact of connecting large scale renewable energy plants (REPs) comprising photo voltaic plants (PVPs) and wind power plants (WPPs) to the national grid of Jordan. The candidate geographical sites with valuable wind speed, solar irradiation, and space availability are considered. Load flow analysis has been carried out to investigate the capacity of the transmission network to integrate REPs. Transmission network upgrading to increase the network capacity is also studied. Moreover, the impact of increasing the penetration levels of PVPs and WPPs, during normal conditions, on the voltage stability has been analyzed. All simulation studies have been implemented using the professional DIgSILENT software package. The load flow simulation results show that congestion management, based on line flow capacity constraints, requires that maximum power generation of the REP shall not increase beyond 10% of the annual peak demand of Jordan. However, higher penetration levels can be reached provided that network upgrading is implemented. Network upgrading to accommodate up to 1600 MW of RE generation by 20202 is proposed. Furthermore, voltage stability analysis shows that the voltage profile and the dynamic voltage behavior depend significantly on the grid's short circuit capacity at the point of connecting the REP. P-V curves have been developed to determine the maximum generation that could be connected at different points on the grid before reaching a voltage collapse. It was also found that the maximum generation size can be doubled by introducing voltage and reactive power control capability.