Grid disturbances caused by massive integration of solar systems at utility level

Solar generation has increased rapidly in recent years throughout the world. Particularly, it is predicted that solar generation will continue to increase exponentially in the following years all over the world. Increased solar generation will lead to increases in the probability of grid disturbances. This study focuses on analyzing the grid disturbances caused by the massive integration of solar plants in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Graphic analyses and statistical tests of mean equality were carried out to detect changes in the energy balance and power peak. As a result, it was obtained that when comparing the difference between the hourly net generation and demand, changes occur in the grid due to the energy imbalance and the increase in power peaks. This means that ERCO has to carry out greater energy exchanges with other balancing authorities to reduce potential disturbances on the grid. With the rise of solar power generation, interconnected power systems worldwide should optimize the efficiency and speed of real-time power exchange.