Sandian Contributes to Western Electricity Coordinating Council Photovoltaic Power Plant Model Validation Guideline

Utility-scale PV systems connected to the transmission network must comply with NERC modeling, data, and analysis standards. WECC’s new “Central Station Photovoltaic Power Plant Model Validation Guideline” helps them with this requirement. (Photo credit: Centurion, Creative Commons 3.0)

As part of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council’s (WECC’s) Modeling and Validation Work Group, Sandia researcher Ryan Elliott (in Sandia’s Electric Power Systems Research Dept.) recently contributed to an update to WECC’s Central Station Photovoltaic Power Plant Model Validation Guide­line.

The document provides photovoltaic (PV) plant owners and transmission planners with best prac­tices for model validation of utility-scale PV sys­tems connected to the transmission network. The procedures outlined in the document are designed to assist stakeholders with compliance with North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) modeling, data, and analysis (MOD) standards. The guideline includes power flow and dynamic data sets for bulk system studies of central station PV plants.