Distributed energy resources challenges for utilities

Experimental evaluation of grid support enabled PV inverter response to abnormal grid conditions

“…A series of GSF characterization tests were run, including VRT, FRT, FPF, VVC, and FWC. While high penetrations of GSF-capable PV inverters have the potential to provide significant voltage and frequency support on distribution feeders, grid operators face significant challenges in considering their impact on protection equipment and voltage support devices, among other considerations [5]. Other considerations are inverter response to abnormal grid conditions, such as (unintentional) islanding, transient over-voltage, and fault conditions, with GSFs enabled.…”

Simulating Distributed Energy Resource Responses to Transmission System-Level Faults Considering IEEE 1547 Performance Categories on Three Major WECC Transmission Paths

“…These growth rates vary substantially depending on the region, with some regions experiencing little growth, and other regions-such as the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), which had more than 7,500 MW online (15% of historic peak demand) as of 2016-experiencing significant growth. In addition to the load-balancing challenges associated with DERs operating under limited visibility (Bravo et al 2015), anticipating the response of DERs to system disturbances has become problematic, particularly with regard to the time-dependent ride-through performance as defined in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1547 standards, both the 2003 and 2018 versions.…”

“…The former affords a simpler analysis of system disturbances, particularly during faults, when synchronous generator dynamics are primarily dictated by the physics of rotating machinery and electromagnetic coupling. Inverter-interfaced generation responses, however, are a mix of power electronics physics, control system characteristics, measurement fidelity, and manufacturer programming (North American Electric Reliability Corporation 2017; Bravo et al 2015;North American Electric Reliability Corporation, 2018a;Plet and Green 2014). The sheer quantity of inverter-interfaced generation, combined with manufacturer diversity and varying interpretations of interconnection standards, has instilled a gap in understanding the aggregate response of DERs to power system disturbances (Bravo et al 2015).…”

Distributed energy resource management systems—DERMS: State of the art and how to move forward

“…Naturally, integration of these novel technologies into traditionally passive distribution networks is followed by a plethora of challenges (Aguero et al, 2016;Aguero & Khodaei, 2018;Bravo et al, 2015;Martins & Borges, 2011;Mokryani et al, 2017;Mokryani et al, 2018;Reno et al, 2021;Singh et al, 2016;Strezoski et al, 2020). Challenges caused by an increasing integration of DERs range from planning and selecting the optimal locations for placement of new DERs (Martins & Borges, 2011;Mokryani et al, 2017;Mokryani et al, 2018), real time technical violations such as overload and reverse power flow problems caused by variable nature of renewable DERs, under/over voltages at the DERs' neighboring busses (Aguero et al, 2016;Aguero & Khodaei, 2018;Bravo et al, 2015) to malfunction and miscoordination of the protective systems caused by dynamically changing fault currents from DERs (Reno et al, 2021;Singh et al, 2016;Strezoski et al, 2020).…”