Storage requirements for PV power ramp-rate control

• Ramp-rate control is simulated for smoothing PV power fluctuations.
• The control is modified in order to optimize storage requirements.
• A validated method to determinate storage capacity in any PV plant size is proposed.
• Energy managed through the storage system is in practice very low.
• PV peak power aggregation reduces battery power and capacity requirements alike.

Short-term variability in the power generated by large grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) plants can negatively affect power quality and the network reliability. New grid-codes require combining the PV generator with some form of energy storage technology in order to reduce short-term PV power fluctuation. This paper proposes an effective method in order to calculate, for any PV plant size and maximum allowable ramp-rate, the maximum power and the minimum energy storage requirements alike. The general validity of this method is corroborated with extensive simulation exercises performed with real 5-s one year data of 500 kW inverters at the 38.5 MW Amaraleja (Portugal) PV plant and two other PV plants located in Navarra (Spain), at a distance of more than 660 km from Amaraleja.

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