Impact of PV and wind penetration into a distribution network using Etap

According to IRENA the number of countries adopted a target to ratify the renewable energy on their electricity grid went from 43 countries to 164 over a course of 10 years only. These targets which will increase renewable energy share on the electricity grid, implies the use of Distributed Generation (DG) like roof-top PV panels or the construction of small scale dispersed renewable-based power plant like wind or PV farms. The aim of this paper is to study the impacts of high PV and wind penetration into the grid. To address these impacts, a comprehensive study performed on a test system provided by IEEE to model the integration of DG plants into a 33kV distribution network using Etap software. Three levels of integration were modeled to reflect the impact of DG plants penetration on gradual basis, 6 scenarios have been assumed and two types of tests have been carried out to investigate their impact on the grid; fault level and frequency transient stability were performed individually at each level of penetration. Additionally, in order to examine the grid performance during extreme weather conditions, several events have been assumed to model the intermittent properties of renewable energy generation. The obtained results showed very good performance of the grid for penetration less than 30% while higher level of PV and wind penetration requires further attention and modification on the grid side.