High-penetration PV deployment in the Arizona Public Service System, Phase 1 update

In an effort to better understand the impacts of high penetrations of photovoltaic generators on distribution systems, Arizona Public Service and its partners have begun work on a multi-year project to develop the tools and knowledge-base needed to safely and reliably integrate high penetrations of utility- and residential-scale photovoltaics (PV). Building upon the APS Community Power Project - Flagstaff Pilot, this project will analyze 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 are being designed and installed to facilitate monitoring and to build and validate comprehensive, high-resolution models of the distribution system. These models will be used to analyze the impacts of the PV on distribution circuit protection systems (including anti-islanding), predict voltage regulation and phase balance issues, and develop volt/var control schemes. This paper continues from a paper presented at the 2011 IEEE PVSC conference that introduces the project and describes some of the preliminary consideration, as well as project plans and early results. This paper gives a status update of the project and presents selected results from Phase 2 of the project. It discusses baseline feeder modeling, load allocation, data acquisition, utility-scale PV integration, preliminary model validation, and plans for future phases.