High Penetration PV in Local Distribution Grids Outcomes of the IEA PVPS Task 14 Subtask 2 T. Stetz 1 , M. Kraiczy 1 , K. Diwold 1 , M. Braun 1,12 , B. Bletterie 2 , C. Mayr 2 , R. Bründlinger 2 , B. Noone 3 , A. Bruce 3 , I. MacGill 3 , B. Mather 4 , K. Ogimoto 5 , K. Washihara 6 , Y. Ueda 7 , A. Iaria 8 , A. Gatti 8 , D. Cirio 8 , M. Rekinger 9 , I. Theologitis 9 , K. De Brabandere 10 , S. Tselepis 11 , C. Bucher 12 , W. Yibo 14 (1) Fraunhofer IWES, Königstor 59, D-34119 Kassel, Germany Phone +49(0)561/7294-284, Fax +49(0)561/7294-400, E-mail: thomas.stetz@iwes.fraunhofer.de (2) AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Vienna, Austria (3) University of New South Wales, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications and Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets, Sydney, Australia (4) National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, USA (5) University of Tokyo, Institute of Industrial Science, Tokyo, Japan (6) New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization NEDO, Kawasaki City, Japan (7) Tokyo Institute of Technology, Department of Physical Electronics, Tokyo, Japan (8) Ricerca sul Sistema Energetico – RSE S.p.A., Milan, Italy (9) European Photovoltaic Industry Association, Brussels, Belgium (10) 3E, Brussels, Belgium (11) Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving CRES, Athens, Greece (12) Basler&Hofmann, Zurich, Switzerland (13) University of Kassel, Energy Management and Grid Operation, Kassel, Germany (14) Chinese Academy of Science, Institute of Electrical Engineering, Beijing, China ABSTRACT: During the past four years, national experts from thirteen institutions around the world have worked together within the International Energy Agency (IEA) PVPS Task 14 Subtask 2 – High Penetration PV in Local Distribution Grids. The main aim of this collaboration was to identify industry’s best practices for achieving high penetration levels of PV integration on the distribution grid in a technically sound and economically efficient manner. Based on an analysis of the different national regulatory frameworks for the interconnection of PV systems into distribution grids implemented around the world to date, and the lessons learned from selected national high penetration PV case-studies, best-practice examples have been established which outline the crucial technical milestones leading towards successful global large scale high PV penetration scenarios. Keywords: Photovoltaic, Distribution Grid, Grid Integration, International Energy Agency 1 INTRODUCTION In 2013, 38.4 GWp of PV systems were installed globally, adding up to a world-wide installed PV capacity of 138.9 GWp 1 by the end of 2013 [1]. Top driving markets for new PV installations were China (11.8 GWp), followed by Japan (6.9 GWp) and the USA (4.8 GWp) [1]. Germany, formerly the world’s biggest market for PV installations, fell back to fourth place with 3.3GWp of PV capacity installed in 2013, but still remains Europe’s top market [1]. According to the European PV Industries Association’s (EPIA) recently published “Global Market Outlook” [1] this trend reversal – China, Japan and the USA replacing Europe’s PV national markets leadership– is expected to consolidate in the next years. As the share of solar electricity in the global electricity mix continues to grow, it becomes increasingly important to understand the technical and economic challenges associated with high PV penetration scenarios. There is a particular need for international R&D collaboration in order to collate and disseminate worldwide knowledge about high penetration levels of PV. The International Energy Agency (IEA) Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (PVPS) is one of the collaborative R&D agreements established within the IEA. Since its establishment in 1993, PVPS task- participants have been conducting a variety of joint 1 Status update July 2014: World-wide installed PV capacity more than 150 GW [2] projects in the application of photovoltaic conversion of solar energy into electricity. The main goal of Task 14 2 is to promote the use of grid-connected PV as an important source of energy in electric power systems at higher penetration levels - levels that may require additional efforts to effectively integrate them into the electricity industry. The particular aim of these efforts is to reduce technical barriers for achieving high penetration levels of distributed renewable systems. During the past four years, national experts from thirteen institutions from around the world have worked together within Subtask 2 – High Penetration PV in Local Distribution Grids – in order to identify and share best practices for a technically and economically improved distribution grid integration of PV. Subtask 2 is one of the key parts of a broader IEA PVPS Task 14 work program including local PV supply-demand matching (Subtask 1), system level PV integration studies (Subtask 3) and upcoming PV inverter techniques (Subtask 4) This paper summarizes the outcome of the IEA Task 14 Subtask 2 from the past four years. 2 http://www.iea-pvps.org/index.php?id=58#c92 29th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition 2176