aps solar partner program

1. APS Solar Partner Program (SPP)
Sanket Adhikari, APS
EPRI-Sandia PV systems Symposium
San Jose, CA
May 10, 2016

2. Agenda
• SPP Overview
• Use Cases and Feeders
• Smart Inverters
• Communication and Control
• Research
• Q&A
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3. • Arizona’s largest and longest
serving utility – since 1886
• Service Territory
– 11 out of 15 counties
– 1.2 Million Customers (89%
residential)
– 34,646 square miles
• Peak Demand ~ 7300MW in
August 2015
• Approx. 950MW of Solar
Capacity - 4th in the nation
– 50% of solar portfolio is distributed
– Pioneer in solar research since
1970s
APS - Company Background
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4. Solar Partner Program (SPP)
• APS owned, operated and maintained residential rooftop
PV systems with advanced inverters
• APS customers receive bill credit of $30/month for 20
years lease
• Total 10MW (approx. 1500 systems) deployment; 2
energy storage systems
• Approximately an year long research plan on specific
use cases in collaboration with EPRI
• External Advisory council
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5. Use Cases and Feeders
• Use Cases
• Equipment Deferment
• Voltage Management
• Stress
• High Solar Penetration
• Interoperability
• Inverter Control and Functionality
• Communication
• Energy Storage
• Model Validation
• Feeders
• Six primary research feeders
• Selected based on technical criteria
and customer acquisition
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6. SPP Inverters
• Technical capabilities
– Inverter functions and operational needs
– Standards and certifications
• Communication capabilities
– Communication protocol
– Firmware update capabilities
• Performance and support
– Lab tests
– Integration and support
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SMA
1. Sunny Boy 4000TL-US-22 (4kW)
2. Sunny Boy 6000TL-US-22 (6kW)
3. Sunny Boy 7700TL-US-22 (7.7kW)
SolarEdge
1. SE3800A-US-U (3.8kW)
2. SE6000A-US-U (6kW)
3. SE7600A-US-U (7.6kW)
DC Optimizer
1. P-300 60 cell 300W
2. P-400 72 cell 400W

7. Communication Architecture
Inverter
PQM
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Cellular
Communications
L+G Mesh
Communications
Radio
Enclosure
Inverter
Non Solar Partner System
Inverter
Cell Modem
Enclosure
PQM
PQM
APS Operations

8. SPP System in the Field
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2
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5
6
1. Inverter
2. Communication enclosure
3. Solar production meter
4. AC disconnect switch
5. Load center
6. Meter adapter
Inside communication enclosure

9. Control System
• Monitoring and control of all the inverters in the program
• Part of the inverters on direct MODBUS protocol from
controller and part on DNP3
• Approx. 20 measurement and 30 settings registers
• Different data collection frequencies depending on
protocol and type of feeders
• Individual and group control for 10 advanced functions
• Interface with data storage system; analytics and
visualization on a separate specialized system
• Future interfaces with energy storage control and ADMS
systems
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10. Field Monitoring Installation

11. Field Measurements
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PQ – 1 second PQ – 1 minute Inverters – 5 minute AMI – Hourly
Voltage Voltage Flicker DC Voltage/Current Energy
ConsumptionCurrent Voltage THD AC Voltage/Current
Power Current THD Input Power PV Energy
ProductionReactive Power Sequence Currents Output Power
Power Factor Phase Imbalance Reactive Power Avg Voltage
Frequency Total Energy Inverter Status Max Voltage
Fast, Accurate Fast, Coarse Data Slow
Few Locations Several Locations Many Locations
PQ monitors will also capture cycle-level data for transient events

12. 12
Research Test Plan
Test
Condition
Selected
Functions
Season
Grouping
Method
Operations
Day Type
•VAR
•Watt
•Combo
•Winter
•Summer
•Peak Summer
•Random
•Distance from substation
•Distance from 3-phase
•LTC
•Cap Bank
•IVVC
•Weekday
•Weekend
•Holiday

13. Summary
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• Challenges
• Technical standards
• Control and communication
• Business integration
• Regulatory
• Milestones
• Feeder selection, Inverter selection (Mar 2015)
• Control System selection (June 2015)
• Controller production implementation (Jan 2016)
• Inverter UL certification (Mar 2016)
• Begin research tests (Apr 2016)
• AMI network path and DNP3 mapping (June 2016)
• Begin Energy Storage Systems research (Jan 2017)
• Smart inverter research complete (Jan 2017)
• Energy Storage research complete (Oct 2017)

14. Questions?