Impact of Large Photovoltaic Penetration on the Quality of Supply a Case Study at a Photovoltaic Noise Barrier in Austria

With the steadily increasing penetration of distributed generation (DG) in electric power systems, concerns have been raised that reliable and safe electricity supply might be jeopardized by a further deployment of decentralized power plants. In this context, Power Quality (PQ) and more generally the Quality of Supply (QoS) are key issues which have recently gained increased attention. QoS has been the subject of many studies during the last decade: customers as well as network operators are well aware that secure and efficient operation of power networks and customers’ equipment is intimately connected with a high QoS level. A consortium of research centers, universities, utilities and manufacturers is currently working on this topic within the framework of the European project DGFACTS. In this context, a power quality measurement campaign has been launched with the aim to assess the impacts of various DG technologies such as PV plants, wind farms and small hydro power plants. This paper gives an overview of the results obtained from PQ measurements performed at a 101 kW photovoltaic noise barrier in Gleisdorf, Austria. Harmonics, flicker, unbalance and RMS events are characterized and discussed. Furthermore, a short discussion on the role played by the decoupling protection is provided.