In Hawai'i, the relatively high cost of electricity costs coupled with various incentives have made it cost-effective to install solar photovoltaics (PV) on residential homes and larger central-station PV plants. On some of the islands, PV has reached over 50% of the installed generation capacity base. To make sure these inverter-based PV plants can maintain stable and safe operations, new smart inverter functionality is being evaluated and demonstrated at significant scale across the islands This paper describes research conducted to validate high PV penetration scenarios with smart inverters and recent progress on the use of these advanced inverter grid support functions in actual power grids in Hawai'i.

This presentation provides a high-level overview of integrating more solar with smart inverters.

Learn the fundamentals of smart photovoltaic (PV) inverter technology with this insightful one-stop resource Smart Solar PV Inverters with Advanced Grid Support Functionalities presents a comprehensive coverage of smart PV inverter technologies in alleviating grid integration challenges of solar PV systems and for additionally enhancing grid reliability. Accomplished author Rajiv Varma systematically integrates information from the wealth of knowledge on smart inverters available from EPRI, NREL, NERC, SIWG, EU-PVSEC, CIGRE, IEEE publications; and utility experiences worldwide. The book further presents a novel, author-developed and patented smart inverter technology for utilizing solar PV plants both in the night and day as a Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) Controller STATCOM, named PV-STATCOM. Replete with case studies, this book includes over 600 references and 280 illustrations. Smart Solar PV Inverters with Advanced Grid Support Functionalities’ features include: Concepts of active and reactive power control; description of different smart inverter functions, and modeling of smart PV inverter systems Distribution system applications of PV-STATCOM for dynamic voltage control, enhancing connectivity of solar PV and wind farms, and stabilization of critical motors Transmission system applications of PV-STATCOM for improving power transfer capacity, power oscillation damping (POD), suppression of subsynchronous oscillations, mitigation of fault induced delayed voltage recovery (FIDVR), and fast frequency response (FFR) with POD Hosting capacity for solar PV systems, its enhancement through effective settings of different smart inverter functions; and control coordination of smart PV inverters Emerging smart inverter grid support functions and their pioneering field demonstrations worldwide, including Canada, USA, UK, Chile, China, and India. Perfect for system planners and system operators, utility engineers, inverter manufacturers and solar farm developers, this book will prove to be an important resource for academics and graduate students involved in electrical power and renewable energy systems.

Integrating renewable energy and other distributed energy sources into smart grids, often via power inverters, is arguably the largest “new frontier” for smart grid advancements. Inverters should be controlled properly so that their integration does not jeopardize the stability and performance of power systems and a solid technical backbone is formed to facilitate other functions and services of smart grids. This unique reference offers systematic treatment of important control problems in power inverters, and different general converter theories. Starting at a basic level, it presents conventional power conversion methodologies and then ‘non-conventional’ methods, with a highly accessible summary of the latest developments in power inverters as well as insight into the grid connection of renewable power. Consisting of four parts – Power Quality Control, Neutral Line Provision, Power Flow Control, and Synchronisation – this book fully demonstrates the integration of control and power electronics. Key features include: the fundamentals of power processing and hardware design innovative control strategies to systematically treat the control of power inverters extensive experimental results for most of the control strategies presented the pioneering work on “synchronverters” which has gained IET Highly Commended Innovation Award Engineers working on inverter design and those at power system utilities can learn how advanced control strategies could improve system performance and work in practice. The book is a useful reference for researchers who are interested in the area of control engineering, power electronics, renewable energy and distributed generation, smart grids, flexible AC transmission systems, and power systems for more-electric aircraft and all-electric ships. This is also a handy text for graduate students and university professors in the areas of electrical power engineering, advanced control engineering, power electronics, renewable energy and smart grid integration.

Learn the fundamentals of smart photovoltaic (PV) inverter technology with this insightful one-stop resource Smart Solar PV Inverters with Advanced Grid Support Functionalities presents a comprehensive coverage of smart PV inverter technologies in alleviating grid integration challenges of solar PV systems and for additionally enhancing grid reliability. Accomplished author Rajiv Varma systematically integrates information from the wealth of knowledge on smart inverters available from EPRI, NREL, NERC, SIWG, EU-PVSEC, CIGRE, IEEE publications; and utility experiences worldwide. The book further presents a novel, author-developed and patented smart inverter technology for utilizing solar PV plants both in the night and day as a Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) Controller STATCOM, named PV-STATCOM. Replete with case studies, this book includes over 600 references and 280 illustrations. Smart Solar PV Inverters with Advanced Grid Support Functionalities’ features include: Concepts of active and reactive power control; description of different smart inverter functions, and modeling of smart PV inverter systems Distribution system applications of PV-STATCOM for dynamic voltage control, enhancing connectivity of solar PV and wind farms, and stabilization of critical motors Transmission system applications of PV-STATCOM for improving power transfer capacity, power oscillation damping (POD), suppression of subsynchronous oscillations, mitigation of fault induced delayed voltage recovery (FIDVR), and fast frequency response (FFR) with POD Hosting capacity for solar PV systems, its enhancement through effective settings of different smart inverter functions; and control coordination of smart PV inverters Emerging smart inverter grid support functions and their pioneering field demonstrations worldwide, including Canada, USA, UK, Chile, China, and India. Perfect for system planners and system operators, utility engineers, inverter manufacturers and solar farm developers, this book will prove to be an important resource for academics and graduate students involved in electrical power and renewable energy systems.

This study presents options to fully unlock the world’s vast solar PV potential over the period until 2050. It builds on IRENA’s global roadmap to scale up renewables and meet climate goals.