Interconnection Study of Distributed PV Systems by Interfacing Matlab with OpenDSS and GIS

High penetration of PV on electrical grid generates voltage fluctuations and frequency variations. Innovative simulation approaches are needed to model the likely real impacts of PV to the operations and to the equipment in distribution systems. This paper proposes to use OpenDSS along with Matlab to implement advanced inverter functionalities. GridPV toolbox is used for specific circuit which was mapped using GIS features to an imaginary feeder circuit with a 170kW of solar in the campus of the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). The GIS interface allows the user to draw and visualize the location of PV plant directly on the map. Moreover, it was considered in this paper that a circuit with several distributed PV can now be represented using GridPV with GIS and Quasi-Static Time Series (QSTS) simulation performed on it and further use active power control to minimize impact. IEEE 13 bus feeder is used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed procedure interfacing OpenDSS, Matlab and GIS.