Integration of Renewable Energy for Power Transfer Improvement of the Nigerian 330KV Transmission Network

Abstract

The Nigerian 330 kV transmission network faces challenges related to voltage instability and significant power losses, which impact its power transfer capability. This study, titled "Integration of Renewable Energy for Power Transfer Improvement of the Nigerian 330kV Transmission Network", explores the integration of renewable energy sources as a means to address these challenges. 5-bus electricity grid is considered as a test network. The steady state performance of the system was modelled using Newton-Raphson load flow equations and was simulated without and with renewable energy sources on MATLAB/Simulink toolbox (version ‘R2016a’). The obtained results showed that without renewable energy integration, four key buses (buses 2, 3, 4, and 5) in the test network exhibited voltage magnitudes outside the acceptable operational range of 0.95 ≤ ​Vi ≤ 1.05 per unit, with respective voltages of 0.8302, 0.6338, 0.5344, and 0.6581 per unit. However, when renewable energy was incorporated, these buses saw a marked improvement in voltage stability, reaching values of 0.9902, 1.0001, 1.0100, and 0.9947 per unit, respectively, and achieving compliance with the acceptable range. Additionally, the integration resulted in a substantial reduction in total active power loss, from 3.05 MW to 0.65 MW, representing a 78.33% improvement. These findings demonstrate that renewable energy integration can enhance voltage stability, reduce power loss, and thereby increase the transmission network's power transfer capability. This study underscores the potential for renewable energy to support the reliability and efficiency of Nigeria’s power infrastructure.