Mitigation of Solar Photovoltaic Production Variability with Geographical Aggregation

Bennet Thomas Krull; Matthew Aldeman; Jin Ho Jo

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Conference: 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access
Location: Virtual On line
Publication Date: June 22, 2020
Start Date: June 22, 2020
End Date: June 26, 2021
Conference Session: ECCD - Technical Session 2 - Solar Energy
Tagged Division: Energy Conversion and Conservation
Page Count: 22
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--34978
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/34978
Download Count: 486

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Paper Authors

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Bennet Thomas Krull Illinois State University

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In 2018, I graduated from Illinois State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Renewable Energy and two minors in both Engineering Technology and Business Environment & Sustainability. During these programs, I discovered my passion for renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency. I began working as an intern for the Office of Sustainability on campus in 2017. As an intern, I worked on many projects involving lighting upgrades and retrofitting leaking faucets on campus to conserve water waste. In June of 2018, I began my Master's Degree in Project Management at Illinois State University. Currently, I work as the graduate assistant for the Office of Sustainability and continue to research methods for reducing the University's carbon footprint.

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Matthew Aldeman Illinois State University

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Matthew Aldeman is an Assistant Professor of Technology at Illinois State University, where he teaches in the Renewable Energy and Engineering Technology programs. Matt joined the Technology department faculty after working at the Illinois State University Center for Renewable Energy for over five years. Previously, he worked at General Electric as a wind site manager at the Grand Ridge and Rail Splitter wind projects. Matt’s experience also includes service in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear propulsion officer and leader of the Reactor Electrical division on the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis. Matt is an honors graduate of the U.S. Naval Nuclear Power School and holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University, a Master of Engineering Management from Old Dominion University, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

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Jin Ho Jo Illinois State University

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Dr. Jin Ho Jo is an Associate Professor of Technology at Illinois State University, teaching in the Renewable Energy program. Dr. Jo is the program coordinator and also leads the Sustainable Energy Research Group at ISU. Dr. Jo is an honors graduate of Purdue University where he earned a B.S. in Building Construction Management. He earned his M.S. in Urban Planning from Columbia University where he investigated critical environmental justice issues in New York City. His 2010 Ph.D. from Arizona State University was the nation’s first in sustainability. His research, which has been widely published, focuses on the use of renewable energy systems and sustainable building strategies to reduce negative impacts of urbanization.

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Abstract

Variable power outputs are one of the largest challenges facing the widespread adoption of renewable energy systems. The inherent variability of solar resources makes it challenging to integrate large amounts of solar energy into the electric grid. Furthermore, the weather factors that influence solar production are often very local in nature. Previous studies have demonstrated that the overall variability of the output can be reduced by aggregating the outputs of wind turbine systems over a large geographical area. The current study seeks to use real-world solar system output data from various locations in central Illinois to demonstrate the degree to which the same is true for solar photovoltaic systems. This topic is of great significance to the future widespread integration of solar energy, and it therefore made an excellent independent research project topic for two students who were completing their degrees in areas related to renewable energy. The work presented in this paper is a collaboration between independent research study projects from two different students guided by two faculty members. An undergraduate student began this work in the spring semester of 2019, and a graduate student completed the work in the fall of 2019. Eleven solar photovoltaic systems with publicly-accessible historical data were identified for analysis in this study. The systems are spread out within a circle with a diameter of approximately 80 miles. The historical power output data for each system over the previous one to four years have been acquired, and quality control measures have been applied. A comparison is made between the variability of the time-varying power output from individual systems compared to the variability of the time-varying aggregated output of the eleven systems combined. Next, the effect of increasing the geographical spread of the aggregated systems is investigated. This is done by comparing the variability of the aggregated time-varying power output from four closely-spaced systems against the variability of the aggregated time-varying power output from four systems spread out over a large geographical area. Finally, the correlations between the outputs from each of the individual systems are explored. The data show that systems located far apart exhibit lower correlation values than systems located close together. Lower correlation values are beneficial for electric grid integration because the aggregation of multiple systems with low correlation values will result in a combined system power output with lower variability.

Citation
Format

Krull, B. T., & Aldeman, M., & Jo, J. H. (2020, June), Mitigation of Solar Photovoltaic Production Variability with Geographical Aggregation Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--34978

TY - CPAPER
AB - Variable power outputs are one of the largest challenges facing the widespread adoption of renewable energy systems. The inherent variability of solar resources makes it challenging to integrate large amounts of solar energy into the electric grid. Furthermore, the weather factors that influence solar production are often very local in nature. Previous studies have demonstrated that the overall variability of the output can be reduced by aggregating the outputs of wind turbine systems over a large geographical area. The current study seeks to use real-world solar system output data from various locations in central Illinois to demonstrate the degree to which the same is true for solar photovoltaic systems. This topic is of great significance to the future widespread integration of solar energy, and it therefore made an excellent independent research project topic for two students who were completing their degrees in areas related to renewable energy. The work presented in this paper is a collaboration between independent research study projects from two different students guided by two faculty members. An undergraduate student began this work in the spring semester of 2019, and a graduate student completed the work in the fall of 2019. Eleven solar photovoltaic systems with publicly-accessible historical data were identified for analysis in this study. The systems are spread out within a circle with a diameter of approximately 80 miles. The historical power output data for each system over the previous one to four years have been acquired, and quality control measures have been applied. A comparison is made between the variability of the time-varying power output from individual systems compared to the variability of the time-varying aggregated output of the eleven systems combined. Next, the effect of increasing the geographical spread of the aggregated systems is investigated. This is done by comparing the variability of the aggregated time-varying power output from four closely-spaced systems against the variability of the aggregated time-varying power output from four systems spread out over a large geographical area. Finally, the correlations between the outputs from each of the individual systems are explored. The data show that systems located far apart exhibit lower correlation values than systems located close together. Lower correlation values are beneficial for electric grid integration because the aggregation of multiple systems with low correlation values will result in a combined system power output with lower variability.
AU - Bennet Thomas Krull
AU - Matthew Aldeman
AU - Jin Ho Jo
CY - Virtual On line
DA - 2020/06/22
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Mitigation of Solar Photovoltaic Production Variability with Geographical Aggregation
UR - https://peer.asee.org/34978
DO - 10.18260/1-2--34978
ER -