Integrating Solar Generation on the Electric Distribution Grid

Many countries have provided incentives for homeowners, businesses and other entities to install solar photovoltaics (PV) to offset generation from other sources, to reduce the pollution caused by the combustion of fossil fuels. Where incentives are high, significant amounts of solar PV are being installed. The term, high penetration solar, has been defined a number of different ways; sometimes comparing the amount of generation to the peak load on a feeder or to the lowest load on a feeder. In this paper we will use it to mean two things: a high enough localized penetration to cause potential voltage issues and a high enough aggregate penetration on a feeder or other section of the electric grid to cause potential voltage issues. The purpose of the paper will be to discuss some of the problems occurring at various voltage levels of the system and solutions that can be or are being introduced to address the issues that high penetration solar PV creates.