Improving the power quality of smart microgrid based solar photovoltaic systems

Microgrids are hybrid power systems that consist of several distributed generation resources and local loads that can supply electrical power to remote or specific areas. The integration of microgrids with the utility network is one of the most recent technologies developed in countries like Egypt. One area of study is how the integration of smart microgrids and utility systems can be used to solve power quality problems such as voltage sags, increased use of distributed genera-tors, deep energy, and power loss. This paper is aimed at investigating a possible solution to some common and dangerous power quality issues associated with the integration of smart microgrids and utility systems such as voltage fluctuation and total harmonic distortion (THD) at different solar irradiance and load conditions. This study used a MATLAB and Simulink code developed to model and analyze smart microgrid and utility system integration and the power quality issue at different loads. This study focuses on five scenarios of voltage analysis and two scenarios of THD at different irradiance and load conditions. The results show that using an integrated smart microgrid and utility system will reduce the voltage drop percentage with high solar irradiance and will increase it with low solar irradiance at both high and low loads. Additionally, THD decreases with increasing solar irradi-ance and increases with decreasing solar irradiance at both high and low loads.