Title :
Solar Dish-Stirling Power Plants and Related Grid Interconnection Issues
Author :
Zhang, Yixin ; Osborn, Bruce
Author_Institution :
Stirling Energy Syst., Inc., Phoenix, AZ
Abstract :
A unique solar technology is entering the competitive utility-scale power plant market. This solar dish-Stirling technology combines a mirrored concentrator dish with a high-efficiency Stirling engine specially designed to convert sunlight to electricity. In the next a few years, two large-scale power plants will be constructed in California using this innovative technology with a potential total capacity of 1,750 MW. The tens of thousands of small induction generators installed in the power facility create a new set of challenges for utility grid interconnection. The article introduces the solar dish-Stirling technology and related interconnection issues including power factor correction, self excitation over voltage, and low voltage ride through. Options to meet the grid interconnection requirements are also discussed.
Keywords :
Stirling engines; power grids; power markets; power system interconnection; solar power stations; California; Stirling engine; low voltage ride through; mirrored concentrator dish; power 1750 MW; power factor correction; self excitation over voltage; solar dish-Stirling power plants; utility grid interconnection; utility-scale power plant market; Induction generators; Integrated circuit interconnections; Power factor correction; Power generation; Power system interconnection; Reactive power; Solar energy; Solar power generation; Stirling engines; Voltage; AC generators; circuit breakers; modeling; overvoltage protection; power conditioning; power system stability; reactive power; solar energy; solar power generation; static VAR compensators;
Conference_Titel :
Power Engineering Society General Meeting, 2007. IEEE
Conference_Location :
Tampa, FL
Print_ISBN :
1-4244-1296-X
Electronic_ISBN :
1932-5517
DOI :
10.1109/PES.2007.386027
