The Effect of Proliferation of Low Carbon Technologies on Steady State Operation of Distribution Network

Electrical power systems are now evolving to accommodate increasing shares of Low Carbon Technologies (LCTs), such as variable renewable energy sources (RESs), electric vehicles (EVs), heat pumps (HPs), and energy storage systems. In addition, a large per cent of LCTs are integrated into power systems via distribution networks. This paper illustrates the steady-state operation of distribution networks with high penetration levels of LCTs, including solar Photovoltaic (PV) generation and EVs, HPs, and light-emitting diode (LEDs) based lighting. The network performance is discussed in terms of changes in the bus voltages, line loadings and losses. A Monte Carlo-based three-phase probabilistic load flow study was performed on a number of illustrative case studies in DIgSILENT PowerFactory environment. The result demonstrated temporal variation of network performance, e.g., losses, voltage levels, and line loading, during the day and highlighted the contribution of PV generation to variable network voltage profiles in particular.