The reliability evaluation of a power system in presence of photovoltaic and wind power generation plants and UPS

A. Burgio, D. Menniti, A. Pinnarelli, N. Sorrentino

Dept. of Electronics, Computer and System Science University of Calabria Rende, Italy {burgio, menniti, pinnarelli, sorrentino}@deis.unical.it

Abstract In this paper a system in which a photovoltaic plant (PV) and a mini Wind plant integrated in a Uninterruptible Power System (UPS) is presented. The aim is to reduce the critical loads loss due to long interruption of the main supply, using the power produced by renewable sources. Obviously the critical load loss depends on many stochastic variables: main supply interruptions, battery capacity and weather condition; so to evaluate the reliability of the system is not a easy task. In the paper, the attention is focused on the estimation of the evaluation of system reliability and its improvement respect to a conventional UPS. In particular, the reliability estimation is performed in terms of the number of the critical loads interruptions over a certain period of time by using the Monte Carlo simulation method. Keywords-component; formatting; Photovoltaic Reliability analysis, Renewable sources, UPS, Wind plant. plant,

spread over wide geographical areas and is connected to local distribution networks, often close to end consumers. Due to its location, EG not only acts as another source of electricity but it can potentially substitute for transmission and high voltage distribution facilities as well as reduce losses in those networks. The development of EG is certainly supported by the exploitation of the so-called renewable energy sources (i.e. solar photovoltaic, wind power, landfill gas, biomass). The government has encouraged the development of non-fossil fuel generation which can be as low as a few hundred kW at a given site. Thanks to the financial incentives, the power generation by using Grid-Connected Photovoltaic plant results more cost effective than in the past. Moreover the PV modules can be integrated into the weather tight outer skin of a building (Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV)) so it is highly probably that Photovoltaics (PV) will be a relevant part in power generation and domestic plants [1,2]. The prospect is the use of small size plants (<1MW) close to the final customers (residential buildings, industrial plants). In this way the final customer get electricity at a cheap price, the environmental impact is reduced at minimum and, moreover, the introduction of generation close to the load should help to improve voltage profile and reduce reactive power absorption from the electrical system.

I.

INTRODUCTION

As a result of the restructuring of electricity markets and the targets laid down for renewable energy, increasing amounts of embedded generation are being connected to distribution networks. Embedded generation (EG) can be defined as small-scale generation, which is not directly connected to the transmission system and is not centrally dispatched. The most important characteristics of EG, which distinguishes it from conventional power plant are its location and size. Unlike traditional large power generating plants connected to extra high voltage transmission network, EG is

Besides, by using opportune control schemes, it is possible to improve the reliability of the supply because, in the case of black-out of the main supply, the customer remain in operation for a time by using the energy produced by those small plants. This is a very important task because the proliferation of the so-called critical customers (loads) such as in the telecommunication, medical and industrial control systems which need a continuous and high quality power supply; for the same reason the Uninterruptible Power Systems (UPSs) are widely used today. On this subject in a previous paper [6] the authors have proposed a novel configuration of electrical system in which a PV plant is interconnected with an UPS (named PV-UPS integrated configuration). In [7] the authors have analysed the reliability evaluated in terms of numbers of interruptions of critical loads over a certain period of time of the proposed interconnected configuration with respect to the conventional configuration. In the numerical experiments the PV data refer to the real sun irradiation measured in the south of Italy; as assumption, the annual average output is distributed equally on all the days of a year. From those numerical experiments the authors have demonstrated the reliability improvements obtained using the proposed interconnected configuration. At present the financial incentives also regard the electric generation by wind power (WG); for example, in 2006 the WG in Italy was about 272 MW; the prospect is to enlarge this production to 7480 MW by 2010; as a consequence the 22% of the electricity demand will be supplied by renewable resources [3]. From the above considerations, in this paper the presence of a mini WG plant (< 1MW) is considered as other available source to supply the critical loads. The aim is to illustrate as the WG plant may be integrated in the electrical system with PV and UPS are installed (WG-PV-UPS integrated configuration ) and to estimate the reliability in terms of critical loads interruptions of this new interconnected configuration; the Monte Carlo simulation method is used to take into account that the PV and the WG power output level is time-varying and randomness. In particular, instead of a probability distribution, the WG data refer to the real wind measured in the south of Italy. Several numerical experiments have been carried out showing an appreciable improvement of the load supply reliability with respect the case of the presence PV plant only. In the paper, firstly the PV-UPS integrated configuration is briefly recalled, then the proposed WG-PV-UPS integrated configuration is presented. Finally, in the last section, the MonteCarlo technique applied to the reliability studies is discussed, and the most significant numerical results are presented. II. THE PV-UPS INTEGRATED CONFIGURATION

configuration of the electrical system is the so-called Conventional Configuration (CC) shown in Fig. 1. In this configuration the UPS and the GC-PV plant are independent between them; so it can be observed that: a) the energy supplied by the GC-PV plant to the critical loads is subject to three conversions through the inverter C, the rectifier A and the inverter B; b) the operation of the device C cannot be separated from that of the MS, that is the GC-PV plant must be immediately disconnected in the case of failure or blackout of the MS. In consequence of point b), the CC does not allow to use the available PV energy just when a blackout occurs; so in this case, the operation of the critical loads can rely only on the batteries endurance (in general 10 or 20 minutes). On the other hand, it is worth emphasizing that, if some loads are so critical that money have been invested in buying an UPS, it would be convenient that all the available sources of energy were used as much as possible; thus, the exploitation of the PV energy, especially when a blackout or a failure of the MS occurs, is mandatory. At this purpose, the authors propose the configuration shown in Fig. 2, named in the following Interconnected Configuration (IC). This configuration overcomes the two previous points a) and b) completely, indeed it can be seen that: a) the PV energy used by the critical loads is subject to one single conversion through the inverter B, instead of three; b) in the case of blackout or failure of the MS, the PV energy is available like that stored in the batteries.

Figure 1. The Conventional Configuration (CC).

In a low voltage power system, in order to overcome the unreliability of the Main Supply (MS) an UPS can be installed; indeed, it ensures that the critical loads remain in operation for a time in case of blackout of MS. When also a GC-PV plant is present, the most simple
Figure 2. The Interconnected Configuration (IC).

In addition, the proposed IC is quite easy to be realized, because it consists in the interconnection of two DC subsystems, characterized by equal value of nominal voltage in the practical applications. In order to compare the two configurations CC and IC, the problem of the supply maintenance of the critical loads is considered, when the following events and all their combinations occur: MS: blackout of the main supply; A: failure of the rectifier A of the UPS; B: failure of the inverter B of the UPS; C: failure of the inverter C of the GC-PV plant.

Figure 3. The Interconnected Configuration IC1.

As well known, the bypass B allows the MS to supply the loads in case of failure of the rectifier A and/or of the inverter B. The obtained results show that the proposed IC gives a meaningful improvement of the reliability on the feeding the critical loads due just to the presence of the interconnection. In particular, it can be observed that: in case of failure of the MS and/or of the devices C or A the IC however gives the possibility to have available the PV energy source; a significant contribution is given to saving on the charge of batteries. It is clear that, in all the events corresponding to the failure of the inverter B of the UPS, there is not difference between the CC and the IC. Moreover, it is worth to point out that for the failures of the devices A and C and in the case of malfunctioning of BP, the critical loads can be supplied only by means of the IC thanks to the availability of the PV energy source. It is easy to observe that power never flows through A and C at the same time [7]; consequently, if the rectifier A is chosen of regenerative type (i.e. the power flow is bidirectional) and its nominal output power is higher than that of the inverter C, then this can be removed definitely. These considerations have suggested a new interconnected configuration shown in Fig. 3 and denoted as IC1. As clearly shown in Fig. 4, the IC1 assures the feeding to the critical loads also when the MS and the inverter B fail at the same time on condition that the rectifier A is disconnected from the grid. It is evident that in presence of more small size plants connected to the same bus, the IC1 is more economic and flexible with respect to the IC. It is worth to underline that the IC1 has the advantage not to be subject to the events related to the fail of the inverter C because it is not present. Moreover, taking into account of the present technology, the regenerative converters are not much more expensive than the conventional ones (especially if solid-state switches as IGBT are used).

Figure 4. Feeding to the loads also when the MS and the inverter B fail.

III.

THE PROPOSED WG- PV-UPS INTEGRATED CONFIGURATION

The wind industry has experienced significant progress over the past decade not only in turbine technology, but also in the electrical interface. The cost of wind power generation has decreased so much in recent years that it is now competitive with conventional forms of power generation. In addition, since there is no fuel cost volatility, the long-term price of wind energy is stable. Then, the economic aspects of these renewable energy technologies are sufficiently promising at present to increase their use in integrated electrical system configuration [6-7]. Besides, it is needed to make some considerations: the dimension of WG plant is directly proportional to the power output and this is directly proportional to the speed of wind [8]. Then, it is evident that if the scope is to supply some local critical loads (medical buildings, industrial plants) it is easier and economic to realize a mini WG plant than a mega WG plant. From above considerations the aim of this paper is taken into account the presence of a mini WG plant as further available source to supply some local critical loads. Let us consider the IC1, it is evident that if a failure occurs during the day when the sun provides enough power so as to completely satisfy the energy demand of the critical loads, the PV plant is sufficient to guarantee the supply of critical loads. On the contrary if the failure occurs at the beginning of the day, just after the dawn, or just to the sunset, the PV energy available could be only sufficient to delay the start of the interruption. Considering that several design scenarios have been proposed to design integrated renewable energy systems and in order to reduce the critical loads interruptions, the authors propose the integrated configuration of Fig. 5, named in the

following IC2, in which the presence of a mini WG plant is considered too. The WG plant is connected by ac to dc converter to the dc side of the UPS. In this way the WG available energy is directly supplied to the critical loads or to the grid depending of the energy demand of the local critical loads. It is worth to underline that the proposed configuration can be used indifferently considering the Italian energy market for: 1) the net metering scenario; 2) the energy transferred to the grid scenario. In the case of the first scenario only for Wind/PV plant of capacity until 20kW the energy difference between Energy supplied by the Wind/PV plant (EWPV) and the power needed by the local critical loads (EC) is brought back on credit in the three next years without any profit. Otherwise, the energy difference between EWPV and EC is sold to the utility obtaining so a profit. IV. THE RELIABILITY ANALYSIS

The power required by the critical loads is assumed uniform and equal to 1 kW. The batteries guarantee that the critical loads remain in operation for 10 minutes at most. The PV plant is characterized by a net pick power of 4 kW and, referring to sun irradiation measured in the south of Italy, its annual average energy output is 6800 kWh; as assumption, the average output is distributed in equal way on all days of a year so as to give the daily available power shown in Fig. 6. As well known, the wind resource at a geographic location is highly variable. Power generated from WG plant depends on the wind speed, which fluctuates randomly with time. For this reason the energy output of the wind turbine, characterised by a net pick power equal to 1 kW, is referred to real data measured in the south of Italy from 1997 to 2005 (the wind speed had been measured each days and each three hours). The numerical experiment covers a period long approximately ten years; during this period the MS and the UPS are in service, that is they are not depending on MTBF or MTBR reported in Table I; so the time of failure and repair is calculated as follows:
TF = MTBF ln(r) TR = MTBR ln(r) where r is a random number.

The reliability is estimated not in terms of the failure rates, but in terms of the number of the critical loads interruptions over a certain period of time; this choice is because the reliability of a system depends on the complexity of the system itself and not only on the number and the failure rates of its components. The simple interconnection of the UPS and the PV and Wind plants means a deep change in the overall system; indeed, when the main supply fails, only in presence of the aforesaid interconnection the PV plant and the Wind plant can contribute in assuring power to the critical loads. V. NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS

(1)

Along these years, the components of the UPS (i.e. the rectifier, the inverter and the bypass) break several times but never these events implies the interruption of the feeding of the critical loads (it means that each fails of A or B is solved by the bypass closing). Therefore only the fails of the MS are significant in terms of reliability estimation. During the analysed period, the MS is subject to 13 failures, of which the start time, the length and when each of them occurs are shown in Table II. The failures of the MS are shown also in Fig. 7; the fails 4, 9 and 10 last less than ten minutes therefore, adopting the CC, they do not imply the interruption of the feeding of the critical loads (see Fig. 8). Additional advantages can be reached by adopting the IC1 indeed, the fails 5, 7 and 13 can be totally prevented (see Fig. 9).
TABLE I. MTBF AND MTBR OF MS AND UPS COMPONENTS
Component MTBF [hour] MTBR [hour]

In order to obtain a deep study of the reliability estimation, several numerical experiments have been carried out by using the well known Monte Carlo simulation method [9]; for sake of brevity, one of the most significant is reported below. The components of the MS and the UPS are considered the elements of chief interest; their Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) and Mean Time Between Repair (MTBR) of the MS and UPS components are reported in Table I; no failure rates are considered for the batteries, the PV plant, the Wind Turbine and the interconnections. The same assumption is taken in regard to the PV plant converter and the Wind plant converter: if they fail the PV and the Wind energy supply the critical loads by means of the interconnection.

A B BP MS

170,000 70,000 400,000 10,000

24 24 24 1

Figure 5. The Interconnected Configuration IC2.

Figure 6. The daily PV available power (all year round).

TABLE II. Fails 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

THE FAILS OF THE MAIN SUPPLY Start [time] 20:10 22:26 16:48 3:30 9:57 15:17 12:06 19:41 23:44 15:54 5:45 15:56 15:27 When [year] 0.692 1.172 1.180 1.556 3.867 3.972 5.119 6.870 8.287 8.475 8.603 8.659 8.823

Length [min] 44.95 146.69 26.85 0.67 226.11 21.08 44.06 19.82 4.86 1.43 39.37 203.47 56.93

Figure 9. The load interruptions in the case of the IC1.

These fails occur during the day when the sun provides enough power so as to completely satisfy the energy demand of the critical loads by means of the interconnection. The sum of the length of the fails 5,7 and 13 is about 327.1 minutes; because the batteries guarantee that the critical loads remain in operation for 10 minutes at most, it is evident the interconnection guarantees 297.1 minutes more.

Let us consider now the IC2; it means that the wind plant can give a contribute as well as the PV plant. This contribute consist in the totally prevention of the fail 1 and in the mitigation of all the other fails (2-3, 6, 8, 11-12) (see Fig. 10). Unfortunately these fails occurs at the beginning or at the end of the day consequently the available PV and Wind energy can only delay the start time of the interruptions (that is the interruption persist but has a lower length). With reference to the fail 12, the start time is delayed of about 74 minutes (see Fig. 11); thanks to the interconnection it is possible to exploit the available PV energy (the net power provided by the PV plant is about 1.21 kW) and the available Wind energy (the net power provided by the Wind plant is about 0,52 kW). As result the capacity of batteries in storing energy is increased of 8 times with a very low cost. With reference to the fail 8, it happens during the night so that only the wind plant can give a contribute in feeding the critical loads. Because the wind power is about 250 Watt, the start time is delayed only of about 5 minutes. In order to underline the advantages in adopting the IC2, in Fig. 12 the undelivered energy to critical loads is reported; by adopting the CC this energy is about 108 kWh. By interconnecting the PV plant and the Wind plant the undelivered energy is just 17 kWh.

Figure 7. The failures of the Main Supply.

Figure 8. The load interruptions in the case of the CC.

Figure 10. The load interruptions in the case of the IC2.

kW 4 2 Wind power 0 1 Load Power CC 0 t t1 t2 IC2 PV power

loads interruptions over a certain period of time has been evaluated by using the Monte Carlo simulation method so as to carry out a comparison with the interconnected configuration in which only the PV plant and a conventional UPS is present. The numerical experiments have shown that the proposed configuration greatly reduce the undelivered energy to the critical loads. REFERENCES
[1] S. J. Chiang, K.T. Chang, C. Y. Yen, Residential Photovoltaic Energy Storage System, IEEE Trans. On Ind. Electronics, Vol. 45, No. 3, June 1998, pp. 385 -394. M. Oliver, T. Jackson, The market for solar photovoltaics, Energy Policy 27 1999, pp. 371-385. D. Menniti, A. Burgio, A. Pinnarelli, N. Sorrentino, Gruppi di continuit integrati con sistemi fotovoltaici, AEIT Vol. 10, October 2005, pp. 8-13. A. Burgio, D. Menniti, C. Picardi, A. Pinnarelli, A novel integrated configuration of Grid-connected photovoltaic system with UPS accepted to ICCEP 2007. Piwko, R. et al., The Effects of Integrating Wind Power on Transmission System Planning, Reliability, and Operations. Report to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. GE Energy Consulting, 2005. G. Graditi, A. Apicella, A. Scognamiglio, V. Cataliotti, Integration of PV and UPS: analysis and technical evaluation, Proc. of PV in Europefrom PV technology to energy solutions, October 2002, Rome, Italy, pp. 833-836. G. Graditi, A. Apicella, A. Augugliaro, L.Dusonchet, S. Favuzza, E. Riva Sanseverino, Technical and economical aspects on integrated PVUPS Systems, 19th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, June 2004, Paris, France, pp. 2572-2575. Badrul H. Chowdhury, Operational Characteristics of Wind Plants and Windfarms, Power Engineering Society General Meeting 2006, 18-22 June, pp. 1-2. Billinton, B.; Allan, R. N.: Reliability assessment of large electric power systems, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1988.

Figure 11. The available sources during the fail12.

[2] [3]

kWh [4]

[5]

CC
[6]

IC1

IC2
[7] year

Figure 12. The undelivered energy to the critical loads.

[8]

VI.

CONCLUSIONS

[9]

This paper has proposed an interconnected configuration of a PV plant, a mini WG plant with an UPS to supply some critical loads. Its reliability in terms of the number of critical