Tackling solar energy integration challenges on the Ireland and Northern Ireland power system

This paper discusses the upcoming challenges for the Ireland and Northern Ireland power system due to the significant integration of solar photovoltaic (PV). The Irish Government has set a target for 8 GW of solar capacity, both utility-scale and embedded, by 2030. The small island nature of the system, coupled with limited HVDC interconnections and an expected summer midday demand of 6.5 GW in 2030, presents considerable operational complexities. This paper identifies four potential challenges for the all-island power system: minimum operational demand, ramping effect, short-term variations, and post-fault behaviour. In 2030, with 2.5 GW of embedded PV capacity, sunny days may result in very low demand conditions, imposing challenges to maintain system stability. The paper also highlights potential ramping risks during daily load trends and rare events. Additionally, increasing short-term solar generation variations pose challenges like frequency fluctuations and voltage degradation. Post-fault distributed PV (DPV) tripping also poses risks for system security. This paper examines the risks and outlines recommendations for addressing these issues in light of the All-Island power system’s unique characteristics and developments.