🌞 Rooftop PV Impact on Grid & Consumption – Diagram Description (The image above can be expanded.)
🕒 Timeline Overview
- 6 am – Sunrise: Rooftop PV begins generating energy
- 12 pm – Midday: Peak solar generation
- 6 pm – Sunset: PV output declines
- 12 am – Night: No solar generation
📈 Graph Annotations
- Energy consumption curve vs. energy from rooftop PV
- "Excess renewable energy flowing into the network"
- "Cloud events across the network can cause power system disruptions."
- "Solar smoothing will assist in increased penetration of DER."
- "Energy from Rooftop PV" – highlighted in orange
⚠️ Hosting Capacity Note
Hosting capacity is limited to the availability of reserve generating capacity at the power station, which can be used to manage the variability of renewable energy generation.
CRN DER Trials 1&2 ESCI-KSP Submission Final
The falling cost of solar PV panels, coupled with the rising cost of energy bills, has driven many customers to embrace on-site generation (also known as ‘Behind The Meter (BTM) generation’). Coined ‘prosumers’, this new generation of electricity consumer is embracing solar PV panels (and, progressively, battery storage) as a means of reducing their energy bills.
Prosumers seek to generate and store their own electricity. Historically barriers to entry (e.g. cost, limits on solar PV hosting capacity, declining renewable energy buy back rates etc.) have made it difficult for prosumers to participate in the energy revolution. However, Horizon Power recognises the barriers faced by prosumers and, accordingly, is currently investigating technical and transitional solutions to overcome these barriers. Horizon Power faces unique challenges in the renewable energy space due mainly to its large number of small microgrids, or non-interconnected electricity systems, and the inherent high cost of supply to regional towns. The smaller the system, the more vulnerable it is to high levels of solar installation.
Horizon Power is conducting ground-breaking research into the management of renewable energy generation and energy storage through these trials on our network in Carnarvon. This project aims to resolve the technical, operational and transitional barriers to a high penetration DER business future. It also aims to leverage Horizon Power’s experience and pioneering use of distributed energy storage to build capabilities in the management and optimisation of high penetration renewable energy generation in remote microgrids.
Integration Overview: Horizon Power & Reposit Cloud Service (The image above can be expanded. )
Reposit Cloud Service
- Connects to multiple brands of inverter, PV panel, or energy storage
- Communicates with Horizon Power via IEEE 2030.5 (SEP) protocol
Horizon Power System Modules
- Customer Use Data
- Tenant & Landlord Interface
- DER Operations:
- DER Customer Services Database
- DER Monitor & Control System
- Dynamic Hosting Capacity Engine
- Advanced Data Analytics
- Retail Services:
- Billing
- Account Reconciliation
- Pricing
- Market & Energy Exchange (Trading)
- Security
External Data Sources
- Weather data from Solcast or SkyCameras
Communication Standard
- IEEE 2030.5 (SEP): Smart Energy Profile protocol
Strategy
To explore the Visibility and Control of Distributed Solar PV and Energy Storage.
Measure
Investigate the impact of cloud events on high network penetration of distributed energy resources in a microgrid setting.
Performance
Understand how to use existing infrastructure and emerging technologies to manage high network penetration distributed energy resources in a microgrid environment.