PV Powered Inc., a U.S. manufacturer of grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) inverters has been selected to receive a Stage 2 award under the Solar Energy Grid Integration System (SEGIS) program by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and contract manager Sandia National Laboratories. As one of five companies selected — down from the original 12 contractors in Phase 1 — this award reaffirms the company's role as an innovation engine in the industry.

The PV Powered-led team for the Phase 2 work includes recognized distributed energy and smart grid leaders Portland General Electric, Northern Plains Power Technologies, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories and Sensus.

PV Powered is working with Portland General Electric to integrate two-way communications between the solar plant and the utility's GenOnSys distributed resource command and control (SCADA) system. This will enable the utility to disconnect its fleet of distributed resources remotely if needed and receive status and assert control commands as necessary.

The team has selected a solar demonstration site in Portland, Oregon, U.S., serviced by Portland General Electric to demonstrate the utility integration technologies developed under the SEGIS program.

The team will demonstrate two-way communications and control as well as the “Smart Power Islanding Detection” technique using synchrophasors. Multiple abnormal grid operating conditions will be demonstrated. Portland General Electric, Schweitzer Engineering Laborities, Northern Plains Power Technologies and Sensus continue to be instrumental in developing the technologies for the site demonstration.

The team also is working to develop a proposed standard dynamic test plan for quantifying maximum power point tracking (MPPT) efficiency. MPPT is a key function of solar inverters and can affect overall effective solar power plant efficiency by a substantial amount, especially under dynamically changing irradiance conditions. As power-conversion efficiency nears theoretical maximum, energy harvest and lifetime operating cost become key components of maximizing return on investment for solar power plant owners.

As building energy management systems (EMSs) become more ubiquitous and sophisticated, there is an increasing demand to incorporate PV systems into the overall building EMS. EMS controllers are designed to allow system owners to operate their facility in the most efficient and reliable way possible. The solar power plant is a key energy-producing device that must connect and participate in the overall energy management equation.

PV Powered is working with leading EMS providers such as Tridium, Johnson Controls and Echelon to ensure that inverters can easily connect and add value to the facility EMS. The team is developing communications protocols and demonstrating the ability to easily connect inverters to EMSs. Once this is done, the team will work with energy management providers to develop additional value associated with the combination of solar energy systems coupled to sophisticated EMSs.

For more information, visit www.pvpowered.com.