Distribution Feeder Hosting with High Penetration of Distributed PV

The photovoltaic (PV) energy market has been growing rapidly during the past years. With many distribution systems facing high penetration it is important to understand the technical challenge of PV output variability and the opportunity of inverter-based grid support. Moving clouds over PV plants can produce power ramping that is an order of magnitude higher than usual changes in customer load. On the other hand, the proximity of customer load with PV power systems provides new opportunities for coordination and management of these resources to better regulate power flow on distribution. This panel will discuss characterization and screening methods to determine individual feeder hosting capacity and compare this with application of uniform grid codes and requiring all inverters to provide grid support. We will discuss results from the IEA PV Power System Task 14. Cases with high penetration experience, and related mitigation measures, will also be covered.