Curtailment and network voltage analysis study.

Australia has world leading uptake of distributed PV (D-PV) and increasing installations of battery energy storage systems (BESS). D-PV and BESS can provide various economic and environmental benefits to energy users, network companies and other industry stakeholders. However, integrating increasing levels of D-PV into electricity networks present a range of social, technical, and regulatory challenges such as voltage management in low voltage networks. To help distribution network service providers in managing network voltage effectively, it is increasingly required that inverter-based D-PV and BESS implement one or more of the following power quality response modes (PQRM): tripping (anti-islanding and limits for sustained operation), Volt-VAr (V-VAr) and Volt-Watt (V-Watt). The PQRMs can curtail power output which may limit opportunities and revenue that D-PV and BESS owners obtain from their investments. On the other hand, these modes can help with the management of voltage. Curtailment and Network Voltage Analysis Scoping Study (CANVAS) is a RACE for 2030 scoping study by the Collaboration on Energy and Environmental Markets at UNSW, including industry partners AGL, SA Power Networks and Solar Analytics. The study analysed two datasets including 1000 BESS sites from AGL's Virtual Power Plant trial and 500 D-PV sites from Solar Analytics' customer database both within the metropolitan Adelaide, focusing on the first two PQRM modes: tripping (anti-islanding and limits for sustained operations) and V-VAr curtailment. The study found a range of V-VAr response behavior from BESS and D-PV likely to be due to different installation dates and legacy standard settings. The tripping and V-VAr curtailment were not significant for most energy users (less than 1% of total generation); however, some energy users lost up to 20% of their total generation. This clearly raises the issue of fairness in relation to curtailment which will become a more prevalent issue as D-PV penetration increases.