Impact of solar hosting capacity on distribution transformer efficiency

Abstract

Today, with the increasing electricity demand, the tendency to use renewable resources such as solar photovoltaics is increasing. However, this type of renewable energy brings some challenges if the electricity demand is less than the produced solar power. Some of these challenges are reverse power flow, overloading of transformers, increase in power losses, and rise in voltage. There are existing hosting capacity methodologies to mitigate these challenges; however, there is no study on the impact of solar hosting capacity on transformer efficiency. In this study, three aspects of transformer losses are analyzed: various rated powers, different electricity demands, and solar hosting capacity.