A techno-economic model for enhancing PV hosting capacity through capabilities of smart inverters and soft open points

The hosting capacity of solar photovoltaics (PVs) in the distribution network can be impacted by the violation of power flow constraints such as power loss, voltage, and line loadings. In this paper, a planning structure based on optimal PV placement and optimal operation of the smart inverters and soft open point (SOP) is proposed in order to investigate the loss of power, voltage profiles, line loadings and total operation cost of the distribution system. The stochastic nature of the daily load and PV generation is considered in power flow optimization by the proposed method. Respective objective functions are optimized using a genetic algorithm (GA) according to probabilistic power flow. While the desired objective function is optimized, the optimality of the PV locations and contribution of smart inverters and SOP is ensured through GA optimization. The proposed model is investigated through numerical analyses on IEEE 33-bus and IEEE 69-bus distribution systems considering different cases of reactive power supports. Developed GA is able to deal with challenges of convergence that are imposed by complex nonlinear formulations. Obtained results prove the superiority of the developed program for the investigation of the PV hosting capacity in both technical and cost aspects.