{"id":41075,"date":"2020-07-06T15:41:19","date_gmt":"2020-07-06T05:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=41075"},"modified":"2020-07-08T15:07:20","modified_gmt":"2020-07-08T04:37:20","slug":"lv-network-over-voltage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/lv-network-over-voltage\/","title":{"rendered":"Confession: I Believed Solar PV Was Causing LV Network Over-Voltage Problems. I Was Wrong."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve heard the one about how the growth of grid-connected solar power is causing voltage rise on low voltage (LV) networks?<\/p>\n

I sure have. I\u2019ve written<\/a> plenty<\/a> about the phenomenon, often with an eye to what networks are doing<\/a> to try and counter the problem.<\/p>\n

However, courtesy of an e-mail from Green Energy Markets\u2019 Tristan Edis, I have learned to my surprise that the \u201cblame solar power\u201d narrative simply isn\u2019t true. Yes, voltages on the LV network are routinely – almost always – out of compliance, but it barely matters whether solar is on the network or not.<\/p>\n

Edis\u2019s e-mail alerted us to a huge report that landed in May, at the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns. The COAG Energy Council\u2019s 175-page LV Voltage Report<\/a> was prepared for the Energy Security Board by the University of New South Wales, and is part of the Energy Council\u2019s DER Integration Plan.<\/p>\n

In particular, Edis drew our attention to a surprising finding: voltage rise is rampant in National Electricity Market (NEM) networks, even when those networks have only a low penetration of DER.<\/p>\n

This is the finding reported in the LV Voltage Report\u2019s cover note [PDF]<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key finding of the paper is that, even in the absence of solar PV, there is a significant level of high voltage across all DNSPs in all NEM states as highlighted in the following chart. The nominal voltage standard in the NEM is 230V – more than 95% of readings were found to be higher than this.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Further:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe increasing level of output from solar PV is, in turn, slightly increasing the voltages on most electricity networks. However, the report also finds that many sites experience higher voltages during the night when solar PV is not operational.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Higher voltages at night” is a far cry from industry (and media) hype that solar power is causing meltdown in our LV networks. As Edis remarked to us in the e-mail, it looks a lot like networks want solar to carry the blame for their own over-voltage non-compliance problems.<\/p>\n

How much non-compliance? In UNSW work by Baran Yildiz presented in the report, in just one DNSP:<\/p>\n