Inverter-Based Resources Reactive Power Capabilities This is the third of five articles in the series “Reactive Power in Utility-Scale Solar PV Applications.” Here’s the last article – “Reactive Power and Transmission & Distribution Operations” – in case you need to catch up. Inverters are a… Continue reading “Inverter-Based Resources Reactive Power Capabilities”
Reactive Power and Transmission & Distribution Operations This is the second of five articles in the series “Reactive Power in Utility-Scale Solar PV Applications.” In Part 1 of this series, we looked at the differences and relationship between real, reactive, and apparent power. We also looked at… Continue reading “Reactive Power and Transmission & Distribution Operations”
What Are Reactive Power and VArs? This is the first of five articles in the series “Reactive Power in Utility-Scale Solar PV Applications.” Right after I started my first job out of college, I found myself presenting at a meeting and talking about reactive power and… Continue reading “What Are Reactive Power and VArs?”
The Most Important Factors When Specifying a Transformer Going from designing residential solar systems to commercial and industrial (C&I) solar systems requires new knowledge in many areas. One area in particular is equipment selection. When megawatt-scale solar systems are designed and put into operation, medium voltage electrical equipment… Continue reading “The Most Important Factors When Specifying a Transformer”
Utility-Scale Solar PV Flourishes Despite Mixed Business Conditions In September 2023, SEIA and Wood Mackenzie released its “Solar Market Insight Report Q3 2023” report. The report projects more than 20 GW of additions in utility-scale solar in 2023, up from 11.8 GW in 2022. Last month, EIA reported… Continue reading “Utility-Scale Solar PV Flourishes Despite Mixed Business Conditions”
New Course Announcement: Creating Solar Courses to Meet the Needs of Electric Membership Co-ops in Georgia and Beyond Georgia has been hit hard by unscrupulous solar businesses, particularly in the residential space. Misinformation about solar has been spread to homeowners far and wide. There are even quite a few solar systems out there that don’t work properly due… Continue reading “New Course Announcement: Creating Solar Courses to Meet the Needs of Electric Membership Co-ops in Georgia and Beyond”
Grading the States: Clean Energy Adoption and Access to the Grid One difficulty that solar PV and other clean-tech companies face when looking to expand their business into other states is that every state is different – different in their goals, policies, interconnection processes, technical standards, data availability, and other factors.… Continue reading “Grading the States: Clean Energy Adoption and Access to the Grid”
“Electric Utility Distribution Equipment” now included with HeatSpring Membership Starting May 31st, for a limited time, Tim Taylor’s “Electric Utility Distribution Equipment” is included with your HeatSpring Membership. Membership gives you access to premium courses that usually cost more, including: There are tons of other benefits, too – you… Continue reading ““Electric Utility Distribution Equipment” now included with HeatSpring Membership”
Power Flow Studies on Utility Distribution If you work with utility-scale or community solar PV, you may have heard the utility refer to the term “power flow study”, also called “load flow study”, and wonder what that is. Utility distribution feeders are designed and operated at… Continue reading “Power Flow Studies on Utility Distribution”
How Much Solar PV Can a Feeder Host? As increasing amounts of solar PV connect to electric distribution systems, in the forms of utility-scale solar PV and behind-the-meter solar PV, a critical question that many in the industry have is “How Much Solar PV Can a Feeder Host?” The… Continue reading “How Much Solar PV Can a Feeder Host?”
Impacts of IEEE 1547 to Developers and Engineers Working on Distribution Interconnections The latest revision of IEEE 1547TM-2018 – IEEE Standard for Interconnection and Interoperability of Distributed Energy Resources with Associated Electric Power Interfaces turns five years old this year. Many solar PV developers and engineers that are just entering the industry… Continue reading “Impacts of IEEE 1547 to Developers and Engineers Working on Distribution Interconnections”
Standards for Distributed Energy Resources Interconnecting to Utility Systems Interconnection standards for Distributed Energy Resources (DER) connecting to utility transmission and distribution systems have evolved and will continue to change in the coming decades. DER includes inverter-based resources (IBR), such as solar PV, battery energy storage, and vehicle-to-grid (V2G),… Continue reading “Standards for Distributed Energy Resources Interconnecting to Utility Systems”
New Course: Understanding IEEE 1547-2018 – The Interconnection Standard for DER on Distribution HeatSpring is pleased to announce a new course focusing on IEEE 1547-2018, the interconnection standard for Distributed Energy Resources (DER) on utility distribution systems. Understanding IEEE 1547-2018 – The Interconnection Standard for DER on Distribution, will launch in February 2023,… Continue reading “New Course: Understanding IEEE 1547-2018 – The Interconnection Standard for DER on Distribution”
Looking at North Carolina Outages and Distributed Energy Resources An incident occurred in central North Carolina on the evening of December 3, 2022, about 45 minutes from where I live, in which equipment in two substations was made inoperable by gunfire. The result was approximately 40,000 customers without power. … Continue reading “Looking at North Carolina Outages and Distributed Energy Resources”
Project Managers & Interconnection Specialists Needed to Build 437GW of New Utility-Scale Solar Wood Mackenzie projects the U.S. utility-scale PV market will add 437 GW between 2022 and 2032. That’s 43,700 MW every year for ten years. It’s a staggering number and no solar company has the people they need to deliver at… Continue reading “Project Managers & Interconnection Specialists Needed to Build 437GW of New Utility-Scale Solar”
New Interconnection Standard for Energy Storage and Distribution – IEEE 1547.9 The development and publishing of interconnection standards and guides to facilitate the large numbers of grid-connected DER (Distributed Energy Resources) to utility systems in the coming years continues, with a new guide focused on energy storage. On August 5 of… Continue reading “New Interconnection Standard for Energy Storage and Distribution – IEEE 1547.9”
Building and Managing Decentralized Solar Project Teams Chris Lord has helped fund and develop hundreds of megawatts of solar projects over the past eight years, but his company is small. I asked Chris to explain how he builds and manages a decentralized group of collaborators to have… Continue reading “Building and Managing Decentralized Solar Project Teams”
What are the biggest deal breakers when it comes to large scale solar projects? – Ask an Expert In the Ask an Expert series, HeatSpring instructors and industry thought leaders answer a question on the minds of the HeatSpring community. We are joined by Dylan Reitenbach, Project Manager at a national solar developer and financier. In this session,… Continue reading “What are the biggest deal breakers when it comes to large scale solar projects? – Ask an Expert”
What is IEEE 1547-2018 and how is it relevant to utility scale solar projects? – Ask an Expert In the Ask an Expert series, HeatSpring instructors and industry thought leaders answer a question on the minds of the HeatSpring community. We are joined by Tim Taylor, instructor of the Interconnection of Utility-Scale Solar to Distribution course. Tim discusses… Continue reading “What is IEEE 1547-2018 and how is it relevant to utility scale solar projects? – Ask an Expert”
Working in utility-scale solar? What you need to know about interconnection – Ask an Expert In the Ask an Expert series, HeatSpring instructors and industry thought leaders answer a question on the minds of the HeatSpring community. We are joined by Tim Taylor, instructor of Interconnection of Utility-Scale Solar to Distribution, Introduction to Distribution Systems,… Continue reading “Working in utility-scale solar? What you need to know about interconnection – Ask an Expert”