Dynamic Stability of Large-Scale Photovoltaic Based Generation Integration into Power Systems

The recent drought trends and decrease in hydropower generation are alarming to the point where we must plan for an alternate power source to utilize the available transmission line capacity. Interconnection of solar Photo-Voltaic (PV) as a viable electric power supply has been substantially increasing in recent years, making it the most compelling alternate power source to compensate for the loss of hydropower. This paper aims to discuss the dynamic stability of a power system when a large-scale PV -based generation is interconnected to the power system to counteract an increase in load and compensate for drought-impacted hydro generation. For demonstration, a real-world power system is used for this study with permission from Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC). The system is simulated for five scenarios, (I) an existing power system, (II) a system with a 500 MW increase in system load and 500 MW additional PV generation, (III)-(V) a system with 500 MW, 720 MW, and 1440 MW PV generation interconnection to compensate for different levels of decrease in the hydro generation to test different PV penetration levels. The system is simulated with GE PSLF software for various contingencies, and dynamic stability results are reported with fictitious bus names without any Critical Electricity Infrastructure Information (CEIl).