Abstract--The large-scale photovoltaic (LSPV) power station

in desert usually connects to local electric grid through long high-

voltage transmission lines. However, it will impact the voltage
profile along the transmission line due to the solar irradiance
nature. In this paper, a simple and accurate method based on
power system analysis principle is developed to analyze impacts
of the grid-connected LSPV power station on voltage profile.
Then, the method is verified through comparing to power flow
analysis. From the results, the bus voltage presents a parabolic
trend with the PV power output increasing; there is a maximum
voltage point on each V-P curve, and the corresponding PV
power output is determined by the impedances; the bus voltage
sensitivity is also a nonlinear function of PV power output.

Index Terms-- Grid-connected PV generation, Large-scale
photovoltaic power station, Power system analysis, Voltage
profile.
I. INTRODUCTION
OLAR radiation is the most widely distributed,
enormously reserved, green and clean energy source.
With the ability of converting solar radiation into electricity,
LSPV power generation is expected to become the new
alternative energy, which occupies an important position in
energy source structure of the 21st century

[1-3]. Three levels
of PV systems are under consideration to encourage the spread
and use: the first is small scale PV system, in forms of
household PV system and the community PV system, which
can operate independently or integrate into local grid, with a
capacity of less than 100 kW; the second is 100 to 10,000 kW-
class mid-scale PV systems, which is located on unused land
on the outskirt of urban areas and can connect to utility grid;
and the third is more than 10 MW-class very large-scale PV
(VLSPV) system, which is located on vast barren and unused
land, where a total of even more than 1GW of PV system
aggregation can be easily realized[2,4].
Due to advantages and impacts of LSPV, studies on the
operating characteristics of PV power station as well as local
power grid are the focused subjects in both PV industrial and
electricity field. Several recent studies have shown that small-
scale PV integrated with the distribution network has the
potential technical and economic benefits, but there are also
many technical issues, such as penetration level limit [5],

Wang Yi-bo is with Institute of Electrical Engineering, CAS, China (e-mail:
wyb@mail.iee.ac.cn).
Wu Chun-sheng is with Institute of Electrical Engineering, CAS, China
Liao Hua is with Institute of Electrical Engineering, CAS, China
Xu Hong-hua is with Institute of Electrical Engineering, CAS, China
network losses, voltage profile [6-8], voltage fluctuation [9]
and harmonics [10,11]. Concerning the other two levels,
studies are just launched in recent years. At present, the mid-
scale PV systems are in practical use in about a dozen sites in
the world, and the number is expected to increase rapidly in
the early 21
st
century; however, the very large-scale PV
system is not in practical use yet

[1,2]. There are abundant
lands in China to develop LSPV power station, but many
problems, including the generation cost, the large capacity
transmission from distance, and the large-scale solar energy
storage, still constrain its development [3,4].
The LSPV power stations are usually located in desert,
Gobi and highland, where there are abundant solar radiation
and open terrain. And, it is always connected to utility power
grid through a long transmission line. A great number of PV
power injections will impact on voltage profile of local power
grid. In this paper, a simple and accurate method was used to
analyze the impacts of grid-connected LSPV power station on
voltage profile of local power grid, and it was verified by
power flow analysis. Then, the impacts of LSPV power station
on voltage profile were analyzed, and the voltage sensitivity
with respect to fluctuation of PV power was investigated.
II. METHODOLOGY
LSPV power stations are usually located in desert, Gobi
and highland, and connected to local power grid through HV
transmission lines from distance. Fig.1 shows the example
power grid used in the studies in this paper. Because the
inverter output voltage level is relatively low, two step-up
transformers are used to connect the inverter into the HV
transmission grid. Transformer T1 performs the first
promotion from low voltage to mid-voltage, and transformer
T2 performs the second promotion from mid-voltage to high
voltage. The line 2-3 and the line 3-4 are HV AC transmission
lines, and the bus 3 is chosen for discussing.
The complex power at the start of each branch as well as its
reference direction is shown in Fig.1 (b), where P is the real
power output of PV power station, which is also called PV
output here. The most of grid-connected PV power stations
have unit power factor, and PV output is mainly determined
by solar irradiance and efficiency of the PV generating system.
So, the PV power station can be a PQ type bus in power flow
analysis. It is assumed that the voltage amplitude at the system
bus can keep at 1p.u., and the bus to be discussed is the
reference bus. The angle of is the voltage angle at the system
bus leading to the reference.
Study on Impacts of Large-Scale Photovoltaic
Power Station on Power Grid Voltage Profile
Wang Yi-bo, Wu Chun-sheng, Liao Hua and Xu Hong-hua
S
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(a)

(b)
Fig.1. Example system of HV grid-connected LSPV power station: (a)
diagram; (b) per unit equivalent circuit
A. Relationship between bus voltage and PV output
Considering general situation, the bus 3 in Fig.1 is chosen
to analyze the relationship between the bus voltage and the PV
output. Select the phasor voltage of bus 3 as reference,
then
3 3
0 U U =

, 1 E =

. Let R
1
=R
23
, X
1
=X
T1
+X
T2
+X
23
,
R
2
=R
34
, and X
2
=X
34
. R
1
and X
1
represent the impedance
between the bus 3 and the PV power station, and R
2
and X
2

represent the impedance between the the bus 3 and the system
bus 4. The voltage drop from the bus 3 to the bus 4 is:
( )
*
34 34 34 2 34 2 34 2 34 2
34 2 2
3 3 3
P jQ P R Q X P X Q R
U R jX j
U U U

| | +
= + = +
|
\ .

34 2 34 2 34 2 34 2
3 34 3
3 3
P R Q X P X Q R
E U U U j
U U

| | | | +
= = +
| |
\ . \ .

Since the system voltage keeps at 1p.u., then:
( ) ( )
( )
2
4 2
3 34 2 34 2 3 34 2 34 2
2
34 2 34 2
2 2 1
0
U Q X P R U Q X P R
P X Q R
+ +
+ + =
(1)

34 2 34 2
2
3 34 2 34 2
tan
P X Q R

U P R Q X
+
=
+
(2)
In the power grid steady-state operation, all of the bus
voltages are in a range of 10% around rated value, so they
can be approximated to 1p.u. and the following approximation
can be made:

2
2
34 1 1
0
P
P P R P P R
U
| |
=
|
\ .
(3)

2
2
34 1 1
0
P
Q X P X
U
| |
=
|
\ .
(4)
Eq. (1)~(4) show that the voltage amplitude and the angle
are nonlinear functions of PV output. Generally, E

is selected
as reference, so 1 0 E =

,
3 3
( ) U U =

. For a specific
power grid and a specific PV output, the bus voltage can be
solved manually.
From (1), (3) and (4), a nonlinear relationship exists
between the bus voltage and the PV output, and the curve of
voltage versus PV output, which is also called the V-P curve
here, can be obtained.
There are two factors affecting the voltage drop along the
transmission line: one is the real power flow supplied by PV
power station, and another is the reactive power flow supplied
by the local power grid to meet the reactive power loss along
the transmission line. When the per unit value of PV output is
less than 1, the reactive power is much less than PV output
from (4). Therefore, the voltage drop caused by the PV real
power flow cannot be neglected.
Eq. (5) represents sensitivity of bus voltage with respect to
fluctuation of PV output, where P
top
is the PV power output
corresponding to the maximum voltage.
( ) ( )
( )
( )
3 1
2
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2
1 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 2
2 2
2 2 1 2 1 2 2
2
2 1 2 1 2 2
( )
( )
( ) 2 3
2 2
( ) 2 2 1
dU F P
dP F P
F P X X R R R X X R P R R X P
R X X X R R P R
F P X X R R P R P

= + + + +

+ + + +

= + +

(5)

1
( ) 0
top
F P = (6)
It can be seen the sensitivity is also a nonlinear function of
PV output. There are no more than three zero value points of
the sensitivity function exists, and only one point has the
reasonable PV power output, which corresponds to maximum
voltage point of V-P curve. So, it can be concluded that the V-
P curve has parabolic trend with one maximum voltage point
existing, and the sensitivity is descend with PV output
increasing.
The PV output (P
top
) of the maximum voltage point on V-P
curve can be solved from (6), and it is affected by the
impedance from the bus 3 to the PV power station and the
impedance from the bus 3 to the system bus. If line resistance
is neglected, P
top
is equal to zero, and V-P curve shows
downward trend. Such scenario may appear at the bus near the
system bus. The maximum voltage (U
top
) is obtained by
substituting P
top
into (1)~(4). U
top
may be high for LSPV. So,
it shall be ensured that bus voltage is below the voltage upper
boundary in steady-state operation.
Let R
1
=0, X
1
=X
T1
, R
2
=R
23
+R
34
, and X
2
=X
T2
+X
23
+X
34
.
Then, (1) ~ (6) can be directly used for bus 1, which is the
mid-voltage point of common coupling (PCC). Let R
1
=0,
X
1
=X
T1
+X
T2
, R
2
=R
23
+R
34
, and X
2
= X
23
+X
34
. Then, (1) ~ (6)
can be used for bus 2, which is the HV-PCC. Conclusions
deduced from bus 3 can be entirely applied for these buses.
B. Relationship between inverter output voltage and PV
output
Let R
1
=0, X
1
=0, R
2
=R
23
+R
34
, and X
2
= X
T1
+X
T2
+X
23
+X
34
.
Then, (1) ~ (6) can be directly used for bus 0, which is the LV
PCC of inverter. If R
1
and X
1
are omitted, a brief form can be
obtained:
( ) ( )
4 2 2 2 2
0 2 0 2 2
2 1 0 U PR U P R X + + + = (7)

2
2
0 2
tan
PX

U PR
=

(8)

2 2
0 2 2 2
2
( )
1 2
dU R P R X
dP PR
+
=

(9)

2
2 2
2 2
top
R
P
R X
=
+
(10)
Solutions conducted from (7) ~ (10) are the same as those
conducted from (1) ~ (6), and the most conclusions deduced
from bus 3 can also be applied for bus 0. The inverter output
voltage must satisfy the voltage constraints in power grid
steady-state operation when the LSPV power station
integrated into a power grid.

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Fig.2. V-P curves under three capacity scenarios



Fig.3. Sensitivity curves under three capacity scenarios

III. CASE STUDY
In the example power grid, three typical capacity scenarios
of PV power station are chosen for comparing, and the V-P
curves are drawn by both proposed method and PSASP power
flow analysis, with 100MVA as the base power and the rated
voltage as the base voltage. Practical parameters are used in
the studies: voltage level of inverter is 400V, voltage level of
HV transmission line is 110kV, T1 is used to prompt voltage
from 400V to 10kV, T2 is used to prompt voltage from 10kV
to 110kV, and lengths of line 2-3 and line 3-4 are respectively
73km and 12km. Capacity of T1 is chosen according to
capacity of PV power station. Three capacity scenarios and the
parameters of T1 are listed in Table I. Capacity of T2 is fixed
at 16MVA. The per unit value of each impedance is
X
T2
=0.552, R
23
=0.103, X
23
=0.24, R
34
=0.016 and X
34
=0.038,
respectively.
A. Bus voltage profile analysis
The maximum voltage points of the buses are calculated
respectively by the proposed method and the power flow
analysis in PSASP, and the results are listed in Table II. Both
methods convince the existence of the maximum voltage point.
Comparing the results from two methods, values of P
top
have a
slight difference, but values of U
top
are almost the same. It is
indicated that the proposed method can accurately solve the
maximum voltage point of V-P curve. Comparing the results
of three capacity scenarios, the expansion of PV capacity will
increase P
top
and U
top
due to the T1 reactance decreasing.
Comparing the maximum voltage point of V-P curve at each
bus, P
top
and U
top
of the bus 0 is lowest, and the maximum
voltage point of each bus is affected by the impedance from
the bus to the PV power station and the impedance from the
bus to the system bus, which is also informed in (6).
The V-P curves drawn by the proposed method and the
power flow analysis are shown in fig. 2. The curves obtained
from both methods are quite similar. Comparing the curves of
three capacity scenarios, variation of bus voltage is enlarged
by the expansion of PV capacity. Therefore, voltage
constraints must be satisfied when a LSPV power station is
integrated into the example power grid. Comparing the curve
of each bus, the voltage level of the bus 0 and the bus 1 are
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relatively low; the voltage level of the bus 2 is relatively high;
and the voltage level of bus 3, which is near the system bus,
has less effect than the others.

TABLE I
THREE SCENARIOS OF PV CAPACITY AND PARAMETERS
Capacity scenario 200kWp 2MWp 10MWp
Capacity of T1 200kVA 2MVA 5*2MVA
X
T1
(p.u.) 20 2.25 0.45

TABLE II
MAXIMUM VOLTAGE POINTS OF V-P CURVES
200kWp 2MWp 10MWp

Bus
P
top
U
top
P
top
U
top
P
top
U
top

0 0.0003 1.0000 0.0125 1.0007 0.0720 1.0043
1 0.0035 1.0002 0.0268 1.0016 0.0812 1.0049
2 0.0103 1.0006 0.0718 1.0043 0.1818 1.0108
P
r
o
p
o
s
e
d

m
e
t
h
o
d

3 0.0101 1.0001 0.0677 1.0005 0.1609 1.0013
0 0.0004 1.0001 0.0125 1.0007 0.0754 1.0044
1 0.0035 1.0002 0.0271 1.0018 0.0781 1.0050
2 0.0100 1.0006 0.0675 1.0042 0.1760 1.0107
P
o
w
e
r

f
l
o
w

a
n
a
l
y
s
i
s

3 0.0094 1.0001 0.0640 1.0005 0.1570 1.0013
B. Bus voltage sensitivity analysis
The bus voltage sensitivity is a nonlinear function of PV
output. The curves of sensitivity with respect to PV output are
drawn by proposed method in fig.3, which cannot easily
achieve in power flow analysis. The sensitivity descends with
PV output increasing. There is a zero sensitivity point on each
sensitivity curve, which is also corresponding to the maximum
voltage point on V-P curve. Moreover, it can be seen that the
zero sensitivity point of the bus 0, the bus 1 and the bus 2 are
the same, but the zero sensitivity point of the bus 3 is much
different. From (5), the cause is that bus 0, bus 1 and bus 2
have the same resistance from the bus to the system bus, but
bus 3 has a much less resistance.
Comparing three capacity scenarios, the sensitivity curve
becomes gentle with expansion of PV capacity. The cause is
that the reactance of T1 decreases with PV capacity expanding.
Comparing the voltage sensitivity of each bus under the same
PV capacity, the inverter output voltage will reach the
maximum value most easily, and its sensitivity ascends most
rapidly.
IV. CONCLUSION
The grid-connected LSPV will impact on the voltage
profile along the transmission line to the local power grid. A
simple method is developed in this paper, and the accuracy is
similar as the power flow analysis. Several conclusions can be
drawn from analyses of the voltage profile and the voltage
sensitivity:
1) The voltage of each bus is a nonlinear function of the LSPV
real power output, and the V-P curve shows parabolic
trends, with a maximum voltage point existing on it, which
is determined by the impedances from the bus to the PV
power station and the impedance from the bus to the system
bus;
2) For a LSPV power station, the bus voltage constraints in the
power grid steady-state operation are the vital factors to
determine its capacity, and the effects of the LSPV power
station on the voltage level of each bus are also determined
by the impedance from the bus to the PV power station and
the impedance from the bus to the system bus;
3) Bus voltage sensitivity is also a nonlinear function of the
LSPV real power output, which has a zero sensitivity point,
and the sensitivity curve is relatively gentle with expanding
the capacity of LSPV.
V. REFERENCES
[1] Kurokawa K. and Kosuke(2003, May). Energy from the Desert:
Feasibility of Very Large Scale Photovoltaic Power Generation
(VLS-PV) Systems. International Energy Agency [Online]. Available:
http://www.iea-pvps.org/
[2] Kurokawa K., Komoto K., and Van Der Vleuten P. et al. (2006, Dec.).
Energy from the Desert: Practical Proposals for Very Large Scale
Photovoltaic Power Generation (VLS-PV) Systems. International
Energy Agency [Online]. Available: http://www.iea-pvps.org/.
[3] Hu Xue-hao, Zhou Xiao-xin, Bai Xiao-min and Zhang Wen-tao,
Development prospects for the very large-scale photovoltaic power
generation and its electric power systems in China, Science &
Technology review, issue 11, pp.4-8, Nov. 2004.
[4] Liao Hua and Xu Hong-hua, Construction of very large scale
photovoltaic power generation system, Renewable energy (China),
issue 6, pp.93-95, June 2006.
[5] A. F. Povlsen(2002, Feb.). Impacts of Power Penetration from
Photovoltaic Power Systems in Distribution Networks. International
Energy Agency [Online]. Available: http://www.iea-pvps.org/.
[6] Wang Zhi-qun, Zhu Shou-zhen, and Zhou Shuang-xi et al., Impacts
of distributed generation on distribution system voltage
profile, Automation of electric power systems, vol.28, pp. 56-60,
Aug. 2004.
[7] J. V. Paatero and P. D. Lund, Effects of large-scale photovoltaic
power integration on electricity distribution networks, Renewable
Energy, vol.32, pp. 216-234, Feb. 2007.
[8] M. A. Kashem and G. Ledwich, Multiple Distributed Generators for
Distribution Feeder Voltage Support, IEEE Transactions on Energy
Conversion, vol.20, pp.676-684, Sept. 2005.
[9] A. Woyte, V. V. Thong, and R. Belmans et al., Voltage Fluctuations
on Distribution Level Introduced by Photovoltaic Systems, IEEE
Transactions on Energy Conversion, vol. 21, pp. 202-209, Mar. 2006.
[10] S. Favuzza, G. Graditi and F. Spertino et al. , Comparison of power
quality impact of different photovoltaic inverters: the viewpoint of
the grid, presented at the 2004 IEEE International Conference on
Industrial Technology, 2004, Tunisia.
[11] J. F. G. Cobben, W. L. Kling, and J. M. A. Myrzik., Power Quality
aspects of a future micro grid, presented at 2005 International
Conference on Future Power Systems, 2005, pp. 1-5.
VI. BIOGRAPHIES
Wang Yi-bo was born in 1977. He is now pursuing
Ph. D degree in Institute of Electrical Engineering,
CAS, China. His special interest includes power
system planning and renewable energy generating
techniques.











Wu Chun-sheng was born in 1980. He is now
pursuing Ph. D degree in Institute of Electrical
Engineering, CAS, China. His special interest
includes renewable energy generating techniques.

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Liao Hua was born in 1976. He is now pursuing Ph. D degree in
Institute of Electrical Engineering, CAS, China. His special interest
includes renewable energy generating techniques.






Xu Hong-hua was born in 1967. He is a professor in Institute of
Electrical Engineering, CAS, China. He is the chair of renewable
energy generating group in IEE, CAS. His special interest includes
wind and PV power planning and renewable energy generating
techniques.

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