Regional and system-wide challenges for large-scale deployment of solar PV generation: a holistic approach to sustain rapid adoption

Solar PV integration studies with high shares of other variable renewable energy sources can be quite challenging and system-specific. In order to tackle a wide range of issues both at the system and regional levels, a holistic approach is required to sustain the rapid adoption of PV systems without any bottlenecks. The paper first presents a systemic identification and classification of challenges of integrating large volumes of solar PV capacity in a power network. By taking the specific case of the Irish Grid, an analysis of the current PV installation targets and system-specific considerations are presented. A comprehensive approach is then designed to identify Ireland-specific problems and solutions for enabling the rapid integration of solar PV to reach a total capacity of 8 GW by 2030. An optimisation methodology for analysing VRES curtailment with the specific case of the future Irish system is considered to understand the impacts of high PV shares. The outcome of the study provides a broad understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution of curtailments for a system with the new targets of higher PV shares, compared to the previously defined lower PV targets, as well as the overall implications for these changes.