1
Impact the Expansion of the Production of
Generation of Solar Power on the Low Voltage
Network in Egypt
Abla Abd El-moety Gado, General Director of Studies and Development Company South Delta
Electrical distribution company , Egypt , dr_aagado@yahoo.com

Abstract--Nowadays, in Egypt the power electricity demand
is increasing continuously and rampant power cuts are a norm,
and the scheduled outages can be as high as 8 hours a day in
some parts of the country. During the outages, industries,
commercial establishments and residential consumers tend to use
diesel generators, which not only expensive, but also leads to
pollution.
One of the main tasks for The Egyptian government is to
generate electricity from renewable energy sources to overcome
this increase in the energy consumption and at the same time
reduce environmental impact of power generation
New technologies allow the electricity to be generated in small
sized plants .Large scale integration of distributed generators at
either LV or MV is at the present the trend followed in power
systems to cover the supply of some loads. These generators are
of considerable smaller size than the traditional generators.
So importance of Installation of renewable energy such as roof
top solar photovoltaic will be increase. Roof top solar projects are
a known phenomenon nowadays. These PV systems offer a great
opportunity for institutions, industries, and all other buildings
already using UPS, inverters, batteries and diesel generators to
reduce energy costs and to ensure power continuity in the event
of grid unavailability
Integration of roof-top solar PV is suitable for use at the low
voltage (LV) level in Egypt where integration can meet
residential consumers’ needs. So, governments must encourage
households to build a sustainable climate-friendly society for the
future and give incentives to the individual owners..,
These small scale rooftop PV (RTPV) systems have some very
obvious advantages, such that , No additional land that could be
used for other purposes is required for rooftop PV systems,
Huge savings in the Transmission and Distribution losses (TDL),
In the other side the uncontrolled and intermittent characteristic
of solar PV which causes voltage fluctuation within the network
and this is significant in the single phase PV system connection.
Also, phase unbalance, loading on the distribution transformer,
power factor, reactive power compensation, and harmonics is
expected to have greater impacts on distribution network. And
are the key influences at the point of PV connection that affects
the power quality of the distribution network.
So, this paper discuss The key major barriers to the integration
of roof-top solar PV systems which are the uncertainties in the
performance of the low voltage distribution network due to the
intermittent nature of solar PV sources.
also, a model was developed to investigate the potential technical
impacts of integrating roof-top solar PV systems into the low
voltage distribution network in Egypt and the uncertainties such
as voltage fluctuations, phase unbalance, distribution
transformer overloading, reactive power compensation,
harmonic injections that detract the overall power quality of the
typical distribution subtropical climate.
Furthermore, the impacts of solar PV on low voltage distribution
network where loads connected through distribution transformer
and finally further investigation was conducted with the
deployment of energy storage into the respective load centers
Keywords: LV - PV - RTPV – TDL – DT - DN
1. Introduction.
The Egyptian government has proposed a new law to govern
the electricity sector. It represents the most recent legal
initiative to encourage Renewable Energy use whereas the
contribution from Renewable Energy Sources low, by
providing subsidies to either the developers who would then
set up installations on rooftops; or to the citizens – who can
then invest in the huge upfront costs required to procure and
install a rooftop solar system.[1]
encouraging Integration of roof-top solar PV for three main
reasons: i) to reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels,
ii) to protect the environment, and iii) to contribute to
sustainable development
In Egypt, residential buildings are the major consumer of
energy, in a country where 45% of the population live in
urban areas. residential building sector consumed more than
47% of the total nationally generated electricity.
Approximately 11 Million tons of oil equivalents (Mtoe) of
energy were consumed by approximately 20 million
apartments [1]. And electrification has reached 99% of
households, where 80% of the residential customers use 50%
of the total households’ electricity [2].
The key major barriers to the integration of roof-top solar PV
systems are the uncertainties in the performance of the low
voltage distribution network due to the intermittent nature of
solar PV sources
Rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems can be hugely
advantageous for commercial as well as domestic institutions
which use inverters, diesel generators and other auxiliary
sources to diminish energy costs and also guarantee power
continuity in the event of faults/ outages it is proposed to have
Rooftop Solar Panels.
With fast growing penetration of PV and other distributed
power generation capacity, the impact of PV on the grid and

vice versa is under discussion. So, in this work a model was
developed to investigate the potential technical impacts of
integrating roof-top solar PV systems into the low voltage
distribution network in Egypt and the uncertainties such as
voltage fluctuations, phase unbalance, distribution transformer
overloading, reactive power compensation
2- Site Description
The electrical network had been designed as it would have
been without any PV system. A transformer with a nominal
power of Sn = 200 kVA feeds 3 feeders of 150 mm² Al cables.
Short circuit power at the transformer – a measure for the
network impedance - is 11 MVA. Along the roads distribution
cabinets are located, where all flats are individually connected
by 35 mm² Al cables to the main feeders. The total solar
power installed is around 100 kW peak. The ratio of nominal
PV Power to transformer rated power is 80 %. The average
power per house with PV is 3.5 kWp.
The solar data recorded by meteorological Authority of Egypt
at the considered site [5] are used with the conversion factor
model in reference [6] to estimate the solar insolation received
on PV array installed at elmahalla al kobra ( 31′N and 31′
E ), and shown in Figure 2
2- 1 Load Profile
Household load demand mostly depends on the working
nature of the residence, the types of appliances and their
pattern of use by the residents. The average load pattern of
south delta residential areas is defined in per unit (p.u) values
as shown in Figure (1) in which it has seen that electricity
demand is very high in the evening and also in the morning
when most householders are at home.
2-2 PV profile:
A PV load profile was generated for this study in p.u. values
from the hourly average summer solar radiation of mehalla al
kobra city [7], Figure 2 indicates that reasonable solar power
is only available from 6:30 am to 6 pm, while peak solar
radiation is at 12 pm.. This figure gives the monthly solar
radiation of different year months.
2
1.5
P.U
1
0.5
0 Scenario 3: Base case Grid with 100% PV integration
Day hours
Fig (1) average load pattern of south delta residential areas
2
January April
1200
July October
1000
Hourly solar radiation kWh/m2
800
600
400
200
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Day hours
Fig (2) hourly solar radiation of mehalla al kobra city
3- Proposed Model
Energy generation from solar PV is possible only for 8 to 10
hour per day and hence, to fulfill the household load demand,
PV capacity should be at least two times each residence’s peak
load demand (approximately 2 kW in a typical urban area).
A roof-top solar PV system model was developed to deliver
electricity to residential customers in a distribution line
connected with a DT. This study considers a residential load
of 100 kV A , connecting through the 200 kVA, 11 kV/400
V DT. A distribution line from the DT is supplying the
residences to meet their every day load demand. Customer
loads are connected in a busbar comprising three nodes.
.Based on the average summer load demand, the system
comprises all equal residential consumer loads of 4 kVA with
0.9 power factors, 9 loads in a busbar with 3 in each phase
making a total of 27 customers connected in the system as
shown in Figure 3
3-1 Modeling Case Scenarios
The load was uniformly distributed among the three phases in
each node, producing a balanced three phase system. Several
case scenarios were considered based on load and PV
integration limits:
Scenario 1: Only the grid supplies electricity to 27
residential customers fig ( 3 ).
Scenario 2:Grid with 50% PV integration: 50% PV of total
loading is connected to supply electricity to the households as
shown in Figure fig (4)
Scenario 4: Grid with 150% PV integration
3- 2 Application:
It was observed from load flow analysis that the voltage level
gradually decreases from source or electricity transmitting
point to the receiving point or end load and shown in fig ( 5 )
That shows the voltage changes of a three-phase balanced
system from the LV side of the transformer to the end busbar
(Busbar 1& 2) for cenario 2. As changes of voltage in
different busbars or node points are the same for all of the
phases. Figure 6 shows Voltage regulation of studied case
scenarios. This figure presents the voltage changes with
respect to nominal voltage at different observation points only
for phase 1as it is a balanced system. It also clearly indicates
that system voltage rises with the increase of solar PV
penetration. PV penetration level is gradually increasing from
 3

case 2 to case 4 and voltage of these systems also rises Fig ( 6 ) Voltage fluctuations for different studied scenarios.
gradually. Furthermore Voltage variations over time in the LV
DN and different busbars for case 1 (i.e., without PV
BUS1 BUS2
integration) and case 3 (i.e., 100% PV of total loading) are
BUS3 terminal
shown in Figures 7 and 8 respectively. These figures also 100.5
indicate that the receiving end voltage of the system is lower 100
than the sending end voltage. Figure 8 shows that the middle 99.5
of the day voltage increases notably corresponding to
99
maximum generation from PV with minimum household
98.5
demand. Also, from power flow analysis as depicted in Figure
9, it can be seen that, for scenario 1, i.e., without any PV 98
generation the grid needs to supply 110 kW active power with 97.5
70 kVar reactive power to fulfill household load demand, 97
while in scenario 4, the system, after meeting household
demand, has surplus electricity of 60 kW that is feeding back
to the grid. Also, Figure 9 illustrates Current harmonics
emissions in the DT, for all cases and it is clear that case 2 and
3 exceed the regulatory standard limit, moreover Current
harmonics emissions in the DT, Busbar 1, Busbar 2, and Fig ( 7 ) Load curve –bus voltage . scenario 1.
Busbar 3 are shown in Figure 10, it can be seen that harmonic
emissions for case 4 is reduced to 11.1% as this system
Terminal BUS1
generates PV power greater than the household load and
causes reverse power flow in the system by feeding back BUS2 BUS3
100.5
surplus electricity to the grid. Also, current harmonic
distortion across the DT is maximum (12.5%) for scenario 3 100
and minimum (6 %) even though both of the systems have the 99.5
same solar PV generation with similar household load
demand. 99
98.5
120
% Of nominal voltage

98
100
97.5
80
97
12:00:…
2:00:0…
4:00:0…
6:00:0…
8:00:0…
10:00:…
12:00:…
2:00:0…
4:00:0…
6:00:0…
8:00:0…
10:00:…
12:00:…
60
40
20
0 Fig ( 8 ) Load curve –bus voltage . Scenario 3.
bus62
Bus 55
Bus 56
Bus 57
Bus 58
Bus 59
Bus 54
Bus 53
Bus11
Bus10
Bus27
Bus2
Bus3
Bus4
Bus5
Bus8

100
Fig (5). Voltage fluctuations in 2 busbars for scenario 2.
50
Series1 Series2 Series3
P 0
Series4 Series5
100.5 Scenario S1cenario S2cenario S3cenario 4
Q -50
100
% of nominal voltage

99.5
-100
99
98.5
98 -150
97.5
97
96.5 Fig (9) Active and reactive power of balanced roof-top solar PV systems.
scenario 1 scenario 2 scenario3 scenario 4
 4

systems in residential areas), Dissertation, Technical University

Chemnitz, 2002
[6] http://www.solarsiedlung.de/
[7] http://www.pvupscale.org/IMG/pdf/Schlierberg.pdf
Current harmonic distortion % THD

14 [8] Joshi, K.A.; Pindoriya, N.M., "Impact investigation of rooftop Solar PV

12 system: A case study in India," Innovative Smart Grid Technologies
(ISGT Europe), 2012 3rd IEEE PES International Conference and
10 Exhibition on , vol., no., pp.1,8, 14-17 Oct. 2012.
8 [9] “Energy Policies of IEA Countries.” http://library.iea.org/dbtwwpd/
6
4
2
0
Scenario 1 scenario2 Scenario3 Scenario4

FIG. 10. Current harmonic emissions across DT.

Scenario1 Scenario2 Scenario3 Scenario4

Current harmonic distortion ,

15

10
%THD

0
DT BUS1 BUS2 BUS3

Fig (11). Current harmonic emissions of the studied cases.

5- CONCLUSION
. Integration of PV in the system causes bi-directional power
flow at the point of connection which also increases the
voltage level of the studied system. In case 4, 150% PV of
total loading is injected which increases the voltage
level equal to the nominal voltage as households generate
more power than they require and are feeding back the surplus
electricity to the grid. However, voltage significantly drops for
flow study only gives the maximum voltage of the feeders,
however load curve analysis show the voltage variation over
time of the feeders. Also it is observed that The harmonic
currents which represent the net balance of the total
current of inverters and the connected domestic loads from
homes. All harmonic current levels stay well below the
permissible limits. in casesof high production of PV some
voltage harmonics were found.

6- REFERENCES
[1] Cobben, B. Gaiddon, and H. Laukamp, "WP4 – Deliverable 4.3- Impact
of Photovoltaic Generation on Power Quality in Urban Areas with High
PV Population," EIE/05/171/SI2.420208, 2008.
[2] R. M. ElShazly " “Feasibilty of Concentrated Solar Power Under
Egyptian Conditions” Master's Thesis , 2008
[3] http://www.google.co.in/#output=search&sclient=
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[4] Masters M Gilbert 2004 Renewable and Efficient Electric Power Systems
John Wiley & Sons.
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(Determination of the maximum permissible power capacity of PV