Hosting capacity of photovoltaic systems in low voltage distribution systems: A benchmark of deterministic and stochastic approaches

This paper compares and benchmarks different methods to calculate the hosting capacity of low voltage distribution systems for residential photovoltaic generation. The low voltage distribution system hosting capacity provides insight to the network planner and operator regarding the capability of the distribution system to accommodate new photovoltaic installations. In the literature, many different methods to calculate the hosting capacity of the distribution network exist, but they are demonstrated using different feeders and with different assumptions, making it difficult to compare different approaches. In this paper, a consistent benchmark of existing hosting capacity methods is performed. A publicly available real network of a semi-urban area is used to compare the different approaches in a consistent manner. A reference stochastic hosting capacity method is proposed, which considers all sources of uncertainty as well as operational and probabilistic limits. Hosting capacity definitions, based on both deterministic and stochastic methods, are evaluated based on their performance parameters and benchmarked. The performed analysis allows selecting the most appropriate hosting capacity definition and comparing results amongst systems.