Optimal Placement and Sizing of a Photovoltaic System into Nairobi Distribution Network: Case of Embakasi

Abstract

Kenya is a country with a fast deployment of photovoltaic (PV) systems. The fast deployment of this technology is due to the continuous decrease in the prices of the PV components, the abundance of the solar resource, as well as the measures put in place by the Kenyan government; such as the introduction of the feed-in tariffs to encourage small scale integration of PV systems into the distribution network. The integration of PV systems has proven to be beneficial to the distribution network in terms of reduced power loss, peak shaving, and voltage/frequency support. Nevertheless, if not properly planned can lead to an increase in fault current levels, reverse power flow, feeders’ unbalance, and frequency excursion in case of large load loss. This paper deals with the optimal sizing and placement of PV systems into the Nairobi distribution network, with a focus on the Embakasi network section. The objective function of the problem is aimed at minimizing active and reactive power losses and enhance the network’s voltage profile. One PV system was optimally sized and placed in the network. The backward-forward sweep (BFS) technique was used for the placement of PV systems and thereafter bacterial foraging optimization algorithm (BFOA) was used for its sizing at the best locations. The optimization problem is solved using MATLAB and then ETAP used to test the optimization results. The results obtained showed the effectiveness of the BFS in finding the best locations for the PV systems and BFOA in finding the best sizes of the PV systems. Keywords—Nairobi, photovoltaic, integration, sizing, placement