In recent years, the upturn demand of electricity and the generation of electrical power demand from fossil fuels are increasing day by day which results in environmental impacts on the atmosphere by greenhouse gases, and a high cost of electric power from these sources makes it unaffordable. The use of renewable energy sources can overcome this problem. Therefore, in this work, we present a solution by implementing the solar car parking lots. A detailed work has been done for solar car parking site selection and maximum solar electric power generation and its capacity effects with the shading of nearby trees and buildings by using the HelioScope online software developed by Folsom Labs. A detailed optimization and selection of car parking canopies are performed at different standard tilt angles to produce maximum solar photovoltaic energy, and it is analyzed that the monopitch canopy is the best to mount at solar car parking lots at a tilt angle of 10°. We have done a detailed economic analysis which shows that 14% electricity cost was offset by the installation of a solar car parking lot with 17% reduction in annual energy consumption from the grid at the proposed site. The total investment cost of the parking structure and the photovoltaic (PV) system can be paid back in 6-7 years.

Decentralized power generation efficaciously merges technological advances in a rapidly changing face of power networks introducing new power system components, advanced control, renewable sources, elegant communication, and web technology paving the way for the so called smart grids. Distributed generation technology lies at the intersection point of power systems, power electronics, control engineering, renewable energy, and communication systems which are not mutually exclusive subjects. Key features of renewable integration in a distribution network include loss minimization, voltage stability, power quality improvement, and low-cost consumption resulting from abundant natural resources such as solar or wind energy. In this research work, a case study has been carried out at a 132kV grid station of Layyah, Pakistan, which has active losses, reactive losses, low power factor, low voltage on the demand side, and overloaded transformers and distribution lines. As a result, power outage issue is frequent on the consumer side. To overcome this issue, a simulation of load flow of this system is performed using the Newton-Raphson method due to its less computational time, fewer iterations, fast convergence, and independence from slack bus selection. It finds the harsh condition in which there were 23 overloaded transformers, 38 overloaded distribution lines, poor voltage profile, and low power factor at the demand side. There is a deficit of 24MW in the whole system along with 4.58MW active and 12.30MVAR reactive power losses. To remove power deficiency, distributed generation using solar plants is introduced to an 11kV distribution system with a total of 24 units with each unit having a capacity of 1MW. Consequently, active and reactive power losses are reduced to 0.548MW and 0.834MVAR, respectively. Furthermore, the voltage profile improves, the power factor enhances, and the line losses reduce to a great extent. Finally, overloaded transformers and distribution lines also return to normal working conditions.

The electrical infrastructure around the globe is expanding at a rapid rate for the sake of fulfilling power demands in the domestic, commercial and entertainment industries aiming to boost the living standards. In this regard, renewable energy sources (RES) are globally accepted potential candidates for maintaining inexhaustible, clean, and reliable electricity with a supplementary feature of economic prospect. The efficiency of power distribution at reduced cost to the consumers can be further enhanced by introducing a two-way billing system so-called net-metering which has the potential to overcome issues such as voltage regulation, power blackouts, overstressed grid and need for expensive storage systems thereby making it beneficial for the grid and the end user. This envisioning has encouraged the Government of Pakistan to install net-metering infrastructure at places which accommodate surplus renewable energy reserves. According to the Electric Power Act 1997, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) issued the net-metering rules and regulations in September 2015 by the endorsement of Federal Government which allowed the distribution companies in Pakistan to buy surplus electricity units generated by the consumers in order to partly reimburse the units imported from the utility grid. The aim behind this research work is to promote renewable energy utilization through net-metering mechanism in order to achieve maximum power. The export of units from consumer side to utility grid and vice versa can be made through bidirectional energy meter. In this paper, a solar net-metering analysis has been carried out on ETAP software to determine its benefits in a distribution network. Different scenarios have been investigated, and it is concluded that solar net-metering technique has multiple influential benefits, e.g., improvement in voltage regulation, reduction in transmission and distribution losses, increase in power availability, less billing to consumers, and reduction of loading on utility grid.

Dry band formation on the surface of outdoor insulators is one of the main reasons leading to flashover and power outages. In this paper, a dynamic arc model is proposed for single and multiple dry bands configuration to predict the critical flashover voltage for silicone rubber outdoor insulators. An arc is modelled as a time dependent impedance consisting of a Resistor Inductor Capacitor (RLC) circuit. The effect of dry band location and existence of multiple dry bands on critical flashover voltage is investigated. To validate the proposed model, experiments were conducted in a climate chamber under controlled environmental conditions on rectangular silicone rubber sheets polluted using improved solid layer method based on IEC 60,507. Tests were conducted at different dry band configurations and pollution severity levels. A good correlation was found between experimental results and simulation results. This model can provide a good foundation for the development of mathematical models for station post insulators having multiple dry and clean bands and can be used in the design and selection of outdoor insulators for polluted conditions.

Voltage and frequency deviation in the islanded operation of a microgrid (MG), due to the uncertainty and lack of inertia in the selection of optimal proportional integral (PI) controller gain, is a challenging task. Although various optimization algorithms have been proposed to achieve this task, most of them require a large number of iterations and are time intensive, making them inefficient for real-time applications. Gray wolf optimization (GWO), a new meta-heuristic algorithm, addresses these issues and has many advantages, including simplicity due to fewer control parameters, flexibility, and globalism. This paper proposes a simple and efficient modified algorithm, called square root gray wolf optimization (SRGWO) algorithm, to realize superior hunting performance. SRGWO is verified using twenty-three benchmark test functions. The algorithm is applied for optimal voltage and frequency regulation of a photovoltaic-based microgrid system operating in the islanded mode during distributed generation insertion and load change conditions. The voltage and frequency gain parameters of the PI controller are optimized. A comparison of the simulation results of the SRGWO algorithm with those of the original gray wolf algorithm (GWO), particle swarm optimization (PSO), augmented gray wolf optimization (AGWO), enhanced gray wolf optimization (EGWO), and gravitational search algorithm (GSA) reveal that the proposed SRGWO algorithm significantly improves system performance while maintaining its simplicity and easy implementation. Furthermore, the SRGWO algorithm obtains the minimum fitness function value in fewer iterations than other algorithms. Moreover, it improves the power quality of the system with regard to minimum total harmonic distortion.

The protection of power system is an essential trait in a huge network to efficiently detect and isolate the sections undergoing faults or abnormal behaviour. The key components of a protection scheme include circuit breakers, relays, switchgears and fuses which employ communication from one station to another to achieve high-speed tripping. The automation of these components at the laboratory level using programmable logic controller (PLC) along with supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system owns paramount importance for intelligent decision making, sensing, actuating, monitoring and maintaining the record in the host server. This paper discusses such a technique for conventional power system protection laboratory at a new level of development to promote a control system through PLC and SCADA. The control system has indication of over and under values of voltage, load and frequency, which can trigger malfunctioning of equipment and must be rectified. Furthermore, ground fault and inverse current indication are added to the system for monitoring and controlling purposes. The proposed system enhances the efficiency and safety of the expensive equipment and the personnel to the next level and also introduces new standards of automated protection schemes for modern technical institutes.