Cost estimation and recovery analysis of a PV Solar farm utilized round the clock

TLDR: In this paper, the authors presented a novel concept of 24-hour utilization of a PV solar plant in a distribution feeder for line loss reduction and the savings obtained during this Loss reduction and also the demonstration of Voltage Profile Improvement in a Distribution Utility Feeder.

Abstract: PV Solar Farm/Plant produces real power during the day and is completely idle in the night and also during daytime when the sunlight is not present. This paper presents a Novel Concept of 24 Hour utilization of a PV Solar Plant in a Distribution Feeder for Line Loss Reduction and the Savings obtained during this Loss reduction and also the demonstration of Voltage Profile Improvement in a Distribution Utility Feeder. Suitable system studies and results are obtained for PV Solar Plant Integration in a real time North American Industrial Distribution Feeder while the PV Solar Farm is acting as a Real Power Injector (RPI) and Reactive Power Compensator (RPC) during different intervals of the day and night. The manifestation of this concept is clearly shown by means of an effective simulation carried out in an industry standard Power System package, namely Distribution Engineering Simulation Software (DESS). An approximate analysis on cost recovery and the gain obtained with proposed method is also discussed.