Simulation of Distributed Generation with Photovoltaic Microgrids—Case Study in Brazil

Elevated prices and lack of proper legislation and government incentives have been the main barriers in the development of the photovoltaic market in Brazil. In an attempt to overcome those barriers, a microgrid model was proposed and simulated. In the proposed microgrids, residential consumers are connected to each other to maximize the investment return by trading the surplus of generated energy among them. Different topologies and scenarios were studied from electrical energy and economic standpoints. Stochastic data of solar radiation were simulated for the city of Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil, for the period of one year, considering the statistical behavior of a series over 20 years. The system output power and energy balance were calculated considering a model for photovoltaic generators and the radiation simulated data. By determining the generated energy and electrical needs of the microgrid members, the cash flow and economic feasibility were calculated. Sensitivity analyses were performed by varying economic parameters to determine situations where investment becomes feasible. This paper shows that microgrid contributes to improve the economics and the initial investments. The number of participants in a microgrid, the electricity and the equipment costs are important parameters to speed up the economic and technical feasibility process.