Enhanced Solar PV Deployment
Background
Deployment of distributed solar PV generation, principally behind-the-meter solar PV systems on residential and commercial rooftops, is accelerating across the U.S. More than 2 million PV systems were interconnected to the electric grid by early 2019, up from approximately 475,000 systems installed near the final quarter of 2013. Of PV systems currently installed nationally, more than half have been interconnected in the western states. In recent years, the number of interconnection requests have grown substantially in the most robust solar markets in the West, such as California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah.
Purpose
In spite of optimistic projections for distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) generation in the Western U.S., barriers to solar PV deployment exist and their mitigation or removal could facilitate deployment. The Western Interstate Energy Board (WIEB), along with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), will conduct research to facilitate mitigation/removal of barriers to distributed solar PV generation.
Barriers
Barriers to solar PV deployment, as noted above, do exist. These barriers fall into three broad categories:
- certain challenges to distributed solar PV interconnection with the grid; and
- potential grid reliability concerns; and
- concerns with utility rate design
WIEB and its national laboratory partners will work with Technical Advisory Committees to identify and define perceived barriers to deployment of solar PV; conduct research concerning the perceived barriers; identify and define measures that could mitigate or remove the barriers; and conduct outreach to state policy makers and regulators to facilitate mitigation or removal of the barriers.
Total funding for this work is approximately $2.5 million. The work began in early 2017 and will be conducted over years 2017-2019.
Research Reports
Interconnection barrier
- “Review of Interconnection Practices and Costs in the Western States”
- This report reviews interconnection rules and practices in western states and across utility jurisdictions. Additionally, it highlights practices that may pose a barrier to deployment and identifies potential best practices for interconnection.
- “New Approaches to Distributed PV Interconnection: Implementation Considerations for Addressing Emerging Issues”
- This report examines emerging issues and policy innovations associated with interconnecting residential- and commercial-scale PV to facilitate sharing of lessons learned and best practices across jurisdictions.
Reliability barrier
- “Simulating Distributed Energy Resource Responses to Transmission System-Level Faults Considering IEEE 1547 Performance Categories on Three Major WECC Transmission Paths”
- This report seeks to improve the modeling and understanding of DER response to regional voltage events, to properly identify DER requirements, and to derive an anticipated DER response based on IEEE 1547 compliance, thereby preventing DERs from becoming a large contingency.
- “Managing Solar Photovoltaic Integration in the Western United States: Resource Adequacy Considerations”
- This report provides a probabilistic resource adequacy assessment of high PV penetration scenarios and comparison to planning reserve margin approaches using capacity credit approximation methods.
- “Managing Solar Photovoltaic Integration in the Western United States: Power System Flexibility Requirements and Supply”
- This report provides an assessment of net load ramping needs under high-penetration PV scenarios in the western United States and the resources available to provide necessary power system flexibility upward and downward ramping at different timescales.
- “Managing Solar Photovoltaic Integration in the Western United States Appendix: Reference and High Solar Photovoltaic Scenarios for Three Regions”
- This report contains Resource Planning Model (RPM) inputs, scenario framework, and results for RPM-Arizona, RPM-Colorado, and RPM-Oregon; two of the papers in the series use these scenarios as their starting point for analysis.
- “Behind-the-Meter Solar Accounting in Renewable Portfolio Standards”
- This report explores how two renewable portfolio standard design elements can influence the interaction of behind-the-meter PV and total renewable generation.
Utility Rate Design barrier
- “Financial Impacts of Net-Metered DPV on a Prototypical Western Utility’s Shareholders and Ratepayers”
- This report quantifies the financial impacts of net-metered DPV on a prototypical Western IOU and identifies key sensitivities and utility attributes driving a lesser or greater magnitude of financial impacts.
Additional Resources
- “Stability and control of power systems with high penetrations of inverter-based resources: An accessible review of current knowledge and open questions.”
- This paper, available HERE, explores current knowledge and open research questions concerning the interplay between inverter-based resources (IBRs) (e.g., wind and solar photovoltaic) and cycle-to second-scale power system dynamics, with a focus on how stability and control may be impacted or need to be achieved differently when there are high instantaneous penetrations of IBRs across an interconnection.
Contact
For more information about this project, please contact Maury Galbraith at WIEB: mgalbraith@westernenergyboard.org