Evaluation of PV Hosting Capacities of Distribution Grids with Utilization of Solar-Roof-Potential-Analyses

Increasing distributed photovoltaic (PV) systems can lead to voltage violations and overloading of grid assets in distribution grids. This raises the necessity to consider the future growth of installed PV capacity for the planning process of distribution system operators (DSOs). This paper proposes the combination of a solar roof potential analysis and grid integration studies at the medium voltage (MV) level based on detailed input at low voltage level. Three different methods were developed to define the distribution of PV along the feeders based on the solar roof potential, and subsequently to estimate the PV hosting capacity of these feeders. The results show that the approach with an even distribution of PV systems along the feeders leads to higher hosting capacity of PV for the analyzed grids. In addition, for most analyzed feeders in this study, an overloading of MV/LV (low voltage) transformers is expected to be the limitation of hosting capacity for potential PV systems.