A Review of Grid Connection Requirements for Photovoltaic Power Plants

The increasing rate of renewable energy penetration in modern power grids has prompted updates to the regulations, standards, and grid codes requiring ancillary services provided by photovoltaic-generating units similar to those applied to conventional generating units. In this work, a comprehensive survey presents a comparison of requirements related to voltage ride through reactive current injection/absorption; active power restoration; frequency stability regulation and active power control; voltage regulation and reactive power control; and the energy quality requisites included in the standards and grid codes of countries around the globe. The survey can be used to observe the differences between the requirements established in the grid codes depending on the power system operating characteristics, development of technology, and renewable energy penetration level. Many of these factors determine the parameters used to establish requisites for different grid codes, making a global standardization of the renewable energy interconnection requirements much harder.