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New SunShot Project for High-Density Grid Integration of Pennsylvania Solar
October 31, 2017 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
New DOE SunShot pilot project will use smart grid technology to connect hundreds of new Pennsylvania solar installations to grid by 2020
Speaker: Megan Toomey, PPL Electric, Keystone Solar Future Project Program Manager
In January of this year, PPL won a DOE SunShot award of more than $3 million as part of a program to support the integration of solar energy into the nation’s electric grid. PPL’s project is one of thirteen projects selected from across the country for funding by the Enabling Extreme Real-Time Grid Integration of Solar Energy (ENERGISE) program. This program provides $30 million in funding to enable grid operators with the technology and data they need to manage solar, and other distributed energy sources, cost effectively and reliably.
The PPL project will smoothly integrate increasing amounts of customer-owned solar generation into our electric grid to ensure continued safe, reliable, affordable service for all customers. The company will launch a pilot program to connect hundreds of new private solar installations by 2020, and will demonstrate the ability to utilize this generation to improve reliability and reduce electricity costs for all customers. The pilot program will focus on the Lancaster area, which has been an especially active region for solar installations because of the amount of sun it receives and marketing by solar developers.
The project will combine PPL’s innovative smart grid technology, which has already resulted in significant reliability improvements, with new tools and software to develop a distributed energy resource management system, or DERMS, which will be used to integrate solar and other distributed generation resources into the grid.
These tools will be used to plan for, monitor and control distributed generation resources such as solar panels. The project will demonstrate that solar and other customer-owned generation — properly placed and integrated into the electric grid — can benefit the customers who install it and can have significant benefits for society.
The total cost of the project is estimated at $9.6 million. The ENERGISE award is for $3,146,232. PPL will provide the balance of the funding in partnership with General Electric (GE) Grid Solutions, the Electric Power Research Institute, Landis+Gyr, Drexel University, the Smart Electric Power Alliance and BRIDGE Energy Group.
We hope you will bring your questions and join us at our October meeting for breaking news about this exciting project and what it could mean for the future of high density grid-integrated solar in Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. about this exciting project and what it could mean for the future of high density grid-integrated solar in Pennsylvania, and elsewhere
The meeting is Tuesday, October 31, at 7:00 at [TEKPark (9999 Hamilton Boulevard, Breinigsville, PA 18031] between Kutztown and Allentown). Meetings are free and open to the public. After the meeting, please plan to stick around and chat with friends old and new. Light snacks will be served. Hope to see you there!