Reducing Voltage Volatility with Step Voltage Regulators: A Life-Cycle Cost Analysis of Korean Solar Photovoltaic Distributed Generation

Energies

Douglas Alleman¹  Eul-Bum Lee²  Yu-Cheol Jeong³ 

[1] Construction Engineering and Management, Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA;Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 77 Cheongam-Ro, Nam-Ku, Pohang 37673, Korea;KEPCO EC (Korea Electric Power Corporation EngineeringConstruction), 269 Hyeoksin-ro, Gimcheon 39660, Korea;

关键词: renewable energy;    solar photovoltaic;    distributed generation;    net present value;    life-cycle cost analysis;    step voltage regulator;   

DOI  :  10.3390/en12040652

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

To meet the United Nation’s sustainable development energy goal, the Korean Ministry of Commerce announced they would increase renewable energy generation to 5.3% by 2029. These energy sources are often produced in small-scale power plants located close to the end users, known as distributed generation (DG). The use of DG is an excellent way to reduce greenhouse gases but has also been found to reduce power quality and safety reliability through an increase in voltage volatility. This paper performs a life-cycle cost analysis on the use of step voltage regulators (SVR) to reduce said volatility, simulating the impact they have on existing Korean solar photovoltaic (PV) DG. From the data collected on a Korean Electrical Power Corporation 30 km/8.2 megawatts (MW) feeder system, SVRs were found to increase earnings by one million USD. SVR volatile voltage mitigation increased expected earnings by increasing the estimated allowable PV power generation by 2.7 MW. While this study is based on Korean PV power generation, its findings are applicable to any DG sources worldwide.

【 授权许可】

Unknown