IEA-PVPS updates guidance on integration studies for hybrid wind-PV

The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Photovoltaic Power Systems (IEA-PVPS) and Wind Energy Systems (IEA Wind) programs have released updated guidance on how to conduct system impact studies in power systems with high shares of solar and wind energy.

IEA-PVPS and IEA-Wind have updated their guidance on how to conduct system impact studies of solar-wind power systems.

The “Recommended practices for Wind/PV integration studies” report covers practical experience and methodologies of designing and executing integration studies. It is the third edition of the report, following an initial publication in 2013 and an update in 2018.

It said that as integration studies are focused on future scenarios, they are a key part of the planning phase and integral to meeting renewable energy targets, while also ensuring stable, reliable, and economically viable power systems.

Key requirements for a wind/PV integration study, as outlined in the report, include an objective (such as supporting policy decisions or understanding balancing needs), power, energy system, and wind/PV-related data, as well as assumptions that impact results, such as connections to other energy sectors, fuel prices, taxes, CO2 allowances, and emission limits.

The study should include tasks such as running production cost simulations, conducting resource adequacy analysis, performing simulations to ensure power stability, and establishing a base case for comparison. It should also validate and quantify uncertainty in synthetic data like weather data, analyze output data, and present results. If the results are not feasible or show high costs, the report recommends revising scenario assumptions.

The authors noted that some study components can be omitted based on solar and wind shares. For lower shares, the study only needs to include the power system operated based on current practices, while higher shares require assessing reserve requirements and flexibility. In systems dominated by solar and wind, resource adequacy and stability are critical.

The report identified two main challenges for high shares of solar and wind energy: balancing system variability caused by fluctuations in both resources and addressing grid stability concerns due to the inverter-based, non-synchronous nature of solar and wind integration.

The organizations stated that traditional study methodologies and models need re-examination for solar and wind-dominated energy systems. While the issues identified are primarily technical, the report emphasizes the need for economically viable solutions and the right policies to address them.

“Market design is important to study for high wind and solar shares to incentivise operational flexibility and resource adequacy with investment cost recovery in systems with high wind/PV share, and to enable effective use of wind/PV capabilities for power system support (for example when running in curtailed mode),” the report said. “A wind and solar dominated energy system would also imply changes in consumer engagement.”

The authors stated that as solar and wind generation become more mainstream, this edition will be the last to focus on wind and solar integration. Future studies will shift to general power system design, considering very high solar and wind shares.

IEA-PVPS has also recently released reports covering key performance indicators for PV systems and the building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) market.