Publications

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The 1.2-MW La Ola photovoltaic (PV) power plant in Lanai, Hawaii, has been in operation since December 2009. The host system is a small island microgrid with peak load of 5 MW. Simulations conducted as part of the interconnection study concluded that unmitigated PV output ramps had the potential to negatively affect system frequency. Based on that study, the PV system was initially allowed to operate with output power limited to 50% of nameplate to reduce the potential for frequency instability due to PV variability. Based on the analysis of historical voltage, frequency, and power output data at 50% output level, the PV system has not significantly affected grid performance. However, it should be noted that the impact of PV variability on active and reactive power output of the nearby diesel generators was not evaluated. In summer 2011, an energy storage system was installed to counteract high ramp rates and allow the PV system to operate at rated output. The energy storage system was not fully operational at the time this report was written; therefore, analysis results do not address system performance with the battery system in place.

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Deployed on a commercial airplane, proton exchange membrane fuel cells may offer emissions reductions, thermal efficiency gains, and enable locating the power near the point of use. This work seeks to understand whether on-board fuel cell systems are technically feasible, and, if so, if they offer a performance advantage for the airplane as a whole. Through hardware analysis and thermodynamic and electrical simulation, we found that while adding a fuel cell system using today's technology for the PEM fuel cell and hydrogen storage is technically feasible, it will not likely give the airplane a performance benefit. However, when we re-did the analysis using DOE-target technology for the PEM fuel cell and hydrogen storage, we found that the fuel cell system would provide a performance benefit to the airplane (i.e., it can save the airplane some fuel), depending on the way it is configured.

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This paper1 discusses the modeling, analysis, and testing in a real-time simulation environment of the Lanai power grid system for the integration and control of PhotoVoltaic (PV) distributed generation. The Lanai Island in Hawaii is part of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) to transition to 30% renewable green energy penetration by 2030. In Lanai the primary loads come from two Castle and Cook Resorts, in addition to residential needs. The total peak load profile is 12470V, 5.5 MW. Currently there are several diesel generators that meet these loading requirements. As part of the HCEI, Lanai has initially installed 1.2MW of PV generation. The goal of this study has been to evaluate the impact of the PV with respect to the conventional carbon-based diesel generation in real time simulation. For intermittent PV distributed generation, the overall stability and transient responses are investigated. A simple Lanai "like" model has been developed in the Matlab/Simulink environment [1] (see Fig. 1) and to accommodate real-time simulation of the hybrid power grid system the Opal-RT Technologies RT-Lab environment [2] is used. The diesel generators have been modelled using the SimPowerSystems toolbox [3] swing equations and a custom Simulink module has been developed for the High level PV generation. All of the loads have been characterized primarily as distribution lines with series resistive load banks with one VAR load bank. Three-phase faults are implemented for each bus. Both conventional and advanced control architectures will be used to evaluate the integration of the PV onto the current power grid system. The baselne numerical results include the stable performance of the power grid during varying cloud cover (PV generation ramping up/down) scenarios. The importance of assessing the real-time scenario is included. © 2010 IEEE.

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