Distribution Modeling and Analysis of High Penetration PV

The interconnection of distributed resources on the electric grid has steadily been growing over the past few years with distribution planners seeing a significant number of requests for distributed wind and solar PV. In order to effectively evaluate renewable resources on the distribution system, either large-scale or small-scale projects at high-penetration levels, certain characteristics unique to this resource must be considered in the system impact and planning processes, namely the time-varying nature of the renewable resource and location-based impacts. This panel paper describes a modeling and analysis approach used to capture these important factors when performing distribution impact studies as well as the Open Distribution System Simulator (OpenDSS) software tool that can be used to perform such studies.