“We believe that there will be significant growth in large-scale projects as the United States and the world strive to meet renewable energy targets,” Victor Abate, vice president-renewables for GE Power & Water, said. “The challenge will be integrating these larger solar projects—which are also powered by a variable fuel source—in a reliable way.”
Because the energy output of a solar power plant is directly related to the availability of the sun, anticipating the load that the solar power plant will provide can present a challenge for the utility grid, causing the plant to trip off-line. In order to ensure that solar power plants stay online, providing cleaner, more reliable energy, the variability needs to be managed so that it is more predictable—even during disturbances such as intermittent could cover.
SunIQ, GE’s suite of solar plant monitoring and controls, can manage voltage in a similar way. “As variable energy such as wind and solar continues to come online, there will be ongoing challenges with integrating into the grid,” said Abate. “Solar integration will need to be managed in order to ensure that it operates as a ‘good citizen’ on today’s grid.”
