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Title: Statistical Characterization of Solar Photovoltaic Power Variability at Small Timescales: Preprint

Abstract

Integrating large amounts of variable and uncertain solar photovoltaic power into the electricity grid is a growing concern for power system operators in a number of different regions. Power system operators typically accommodate variability, whether from load, wind, or solar, by carrying reserves that can quickly change their output to match the changes in the solar resource. At timescales in the seconds-to-minutes range, this is known as regulation reserve. Previous studies have shown that increasing the geographic diversity of solar resources can reduce the short term-variability of the power output. As the price of solar has decreased, the emergence of very large PV plants (greater than 10 MW) has become more common. These plants present an interesting case because they are large enough to exhibit some spatial smoothing by themselves. This work examines the variability of solar PV output among different arrays in a large ({approx}50 MW) PV plant in the western United States, including the correlation in power output changes between different arrays, as well as the aggregated plant output, at timescales ranging from one second to five minutes.

Authors:
; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program
OSTI Identifier:
1050765
Report Number(s):
NREL/CP-5500-56165
TRN: US201218%%1538
DOE Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: To be presented at the 2nd Annual International Workshop on Integration of Solar Power into Power Systems Conference, 12-13 November 2012, Lisbon, Portugal
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION; AUGMENTATION; CORRELATIONS; ELECTRICITY; GRIDS; MEETINGS; PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER PLANTS; POWER SYSTEMS; PRICES; PRODUCTION; RESERVES; RESOURCES; VARIATIONS; PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER GENERATION; STOCHASTIC PROCESSES; POWER SYSTEM OPERATION; NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY; NREL; Electricity, Resources, and Buildings Systems; Solar Energy - Photovoltaics

Citation Formats

Shedd, S, Hodge, B -M, Florita, A, and Orwig, K. Statistical Characterization of Solar Photovoltaic Power Variability at Small Timescales: Preprint. United States: N. p., 2012. Web.
Shedd, S, Hodge, B -M, Florita, A, & Orwig, K. Statistical Characterization of Solar Photovoltaic Power Variability at Small Timescales: Preprint. United States.
Shedd, S, Hodge, B -M, Florita, A, and Orwig, K. 2012. "Statistical Characterization of Solar Photovoltaic Power Variability at Small Timescales: Preprint". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1050765.
@article{osti_1050765,
title = {Statistical Characterization of Solar Photovoltaic Power Variability at Small Timescales: Preprint},
author = {Shedd, S and Hodge, B -M and Florita, A and Orwig, K},
abstractNote = {Integrating large amounts of variable and uncertain solar photovoltaic power into the electricity grid is a growing concern for power system operators in a number of different regions. Power system operators typically accommodate variability, whether from load, wind, or solar, by carrying reserves that can quickly change their output to match the changes in the solar resource. At timescales in the seconds-to-minutes range, this is known as regulation reserve. Previous studies have shown that increasing the geographic diversity of solar resources can reduce the short term-variability of the power output. As the price of solar has decreased, the emergence of very large PV plants (greater than 10 MW) has become more common. These plants present an interesting case because they are large enough to exhibit some spatial smoothing by themselves. This work examines the variability of solar PV output among different arrays in a large ({approx}50 MW) PV plant in the western United States, including the correlation in power output changes between different arrays, as well as the aggregated plant output, at timescales ranging from one second to five minutes.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1050765}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012},
month = {Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012}
}

Conference:
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