Full Title: Maintaining Reliability in Power Grids with High Levels of Wind and Solar
Author(s): Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG), GridLab
Publisher(s): Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG), GridLab
Publication Date: May 11, 2020
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
This fact sheet examines maintaining reliability in power grids with high levels of wind and solar energy.
The power system is evolving quickly as increasing numbers of countries, states, and utilities set 100 percent renewable or 100 percent carbon-free goals. Responding to a number of technical considerations for operating a power grid with increasing levels of renewable generation, system planners, system operators, and utilities are developing innovative ways to increase the flexibility and maintain the reliability of a cleaner power system.
Two aspects of wind and solar generation that call for changes to power system operation are their variability and some aspects of their behavior. Their variability makes balancing supply with demand more challenging. In addition, since wind, solar photovoltaics, and battery storage are inverter-based resources—rather than traditional power plants with spinning masses—their behavior differs from that of traditional generators (coal, natural gas, or nuclear) in ways that change the grid’s response to disturbances.