IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - November/December 2020 - 85

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Voltage (kV)

Current (A)

G. Kou, J. Deverick, K. Phelps, T.
Nguyen, and F. G. Velez-Cedeno,
"Impact of distributed energy
resources on arc flash incident
Solar
energy," IEEE Trans. Power Del.,
Power Plant
vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 531-539, Apr.
Firewall
Data Server
2020. doi: 10.1109/TPWRD.2019.
2912347.
Enterprise Network
Cellular Network
G. Kou, L. Chen, P. VanSant,
F. Velez-Cedeno, and Y. Liu,
figure 13. The solar monitoring system developed by Dominion Energy.
"Fault characteristics of distributed sola r generation," IEEE
Trans. Power Del., vol. 35, no. 2,
pp. 1062-1064, Apr. 2020. doi:
1,000
10.1109/TPWRD.2019.2907462.
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Electric Power Research InstiiA
tute, "Distributed energy resourc-1,000
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es field experience: Open phase,"
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Washington, D.C., Public White
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Paper no. 002015949, 2019.
Time (s)
Electric Power Research Insti(a)
tute,
"Protection from unintended
22
islanding and substation primary
20
GFO caused by DG," WashingVA
ton,
D.C., Public White Paper no.
VB
18
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3002011008, 2017.
16
Pacific Gas and Electric Com0
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pany,
"Distributed generation
Time (s)
protection
requirements," San
(b)
Francisco, TD-2306B-002, Nov.
15, 2017.
figure 14. Energizing the DER transformers induces inrush current and voltage sag.
"Interconnection -Rulemaking
17-07-007," California Public
engineers to take an in-depth look into solar generation's Utilities Commission, San Francisco, Working Group 4 final
report, Aug. 12, 2020.
performance.
"System neutral grounding considerations for invertWith regard to monitoring the PQ of solar power plants,
energizing DER transformers creates inrush current that er-interfaced distributed energy resources," IEEE Power
can momentarily depress circuit voltage. Such behaviors & Energy Society, Piscataway, NJ, IEEE PES TR-TR21,
are not desirable because the induced voltage sag can affect Dec. 2016.
M. Smith, M. Rylander, L. Rogers, and R. Dugan, "It's all
the industrial and residential customers near the solar power
plant. The transient is momentary in nature, with an average in the plans: Maximizing the benefits and minimizing the
duration of six cycles, but it could reduce voltage to 70% impacts of DERs in an integrated grid," IEEE Power Energy
of the nominal level. The SCADA system turned out to be Mag., vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 20-29, Mar.-Apr. 2015. doi: 10.1109/
MPE.2014.2379855.
incapable of monitoring such fast transients.
Unlike the SCADA system, the solar monitoring system
is capable of collecting event oscillography from PQ meters Biographies
with a reporting rate higher than 80 data points per cycle. Tom Key is with the Electric Power Research Institute,
This makes the fast transient phenomenon (see Figure 14) Washington, D.C.
visible to utility engineers, and corrective actions can then
Gefei "Derek" Kou is with Dominion Energy, Richbe taken. Mitigation options include reducing energization mond, Virginia.
events and installing preinsertion switches at the POI to
Michael Jensen is with Pacific Gas and Electric Comalleviate inrush impact. The solar monitoring tool greatly pany, San Francisco.
improves the utility's situational awareness on its solar fleet
p&e

to ensure successful solar integration.
november/december 2020

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IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - November/December 2020

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