Recommendations for the Planning of PV-Rich Distribution Networks: An Australian Case Study

This paper consolidates the findings from the “Advanced Planning of PV-Rich Distribution Networks” project and provides a series of planning recommendations to help distribution companies in Australia, and internationally, take adequate planning actions that facilitate the widespread adoption of residential photovoltaic (PV) systems in a cost-effective and practical manner. A set of considerations are presented to perform an advanced model-based approach for solar PV hosting capacity and potential solution assessments in distribution networks. A summary of the seven investigated complete solutions and their costs for the four Australian fully-modelled high-voltage (HV) and corresponding attached low-voltage (LV) feeders, forming integrated HV-LV feeders (including urban and rural), are presented, considering PV penetrations in both the short-to-medium and long terms.