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 paper presents its basic architecture, a simulation-based prototype and preliminary results based on actual loads from commercial buildings.