Integrated system to enable high-penetration feeder-level PV: Preliminary design and simulation results

We present a novel framework-the SunDial system-intended to enable integration of high-penetration commercial and utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) plants by a combination of load and energy storage management. Rather than relying on controllable loads from disparate individual buildings, SunDial uses a Facility Load Aggregation and Management Engine (FLAME) that provides a single point of input for managing the electric loads in multiple commercial and/or industrial facilities. By implementing various demand response strategies, FLAME acts as a virtual energy storage resource, thus increasing the roundtrip efficiency and capacity of the Sundial's coupled battery/load-based storage system. An open standard to support broader utilization of long-duration load shifting as a means to enable grid integration of distributed renewables is also proposed. The SunDial system is planned to be deployed in Massachusetts in 2017-2019 on the National Grid distribution system. This pape r presents its basic architecture, a simulation-based prototype and preliminary results based on actual loads from commercial buildings.