NREL/SCE High-Penetration PV Integration Project: Report on Field Demonstration of Advanced Inverter Functionality in Fontana, CA
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory/Southern California Edison High-Penetration PV Integration Project is (1) researching the distribution system level impacts of high-penetration photovoltaic (PV) integration, (2) determining mitigation methods to reduce or eliminate those impacts, and (3) seeking to demonstrate these mitigation methods on actual high-penetration PV distribution circuits. This report describes a field demonstration completed during the fall of 2013 on the Fontana, California, study circuit, which includes a total of 4.5 MW of interconnected utility-scale rooftop PV systems. The demonstration included operating a 2-MW PV system at an off-unity power factor that had been determined during previously completed distribution system modeling and PV impact assessment analyses. Data on the distribution circuit and PV system operations were collected during the 2-week demonstration period. This demonstration reinforces the findings of previous laboratory testing that showed that utility-scale PV inverters are capable of operating at off-unity power factor to mitigate PV impacts; however, because of difficulties setting and retaining PV inverter power factor set points during the field demonstration, it was not possible to demonstrate the effectiveness of off-unity power factor operation to mitigate the voltage impacts of high-penetration PV integration. Lessons learned from this field demonstration are presented to inform future field demonstration efforts.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 1150798
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/TP-5D00-62483
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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