High-penetration PV deployment in the Arizona Public Service system, Phase 2 results and update on Phase 3

In an effort to better understand the impacts of high penetrations of photovoltaic (PV) generators on distribution systems, Arizona Public Service and its partners are implementing a multi-year project to develop the tools and knowledgebase needed to safely and reliably integrate high penetrations of utility- and residential-scale PV. Building upon the APS Community Power Project-Flagstaff Pilot, this project investigates the impact of PV on a representative feeder in northeast Flagstaff. To quantify and catalog the effects of the estimated 1.3 MW of PV that will be installed on the feeder (both smaller units at homes as well as large, centrally located systems), high-speed weather and electrical data acquisition systems and digital “smart” meters were designed and installed to facilitate monitoring and to build and validate comprehensive, high-resolution models of the distribution system. These models are being developed to analyze the impacts of PV on distribution circuit protection systems (including coordination and anti-islanding), predict voltage regulation and phase balance issues, and develop volt/var control schemes. This paper continues from a paper presented at the 2012 IEEE PVSC conference that described baseline feeder modeling and preliminary steps toward data acquisition and model validation. This paper presents results from Phase 2, and gives an update on Phase 3 of the project. Specifically, the paper discusses updated results from the data acquisition effort, newly developed graphical analysis tools, continued feeder modeling, utility-scale PV integration and performance, continued model validation, and plans for future phases.