Demonstration of the Capabilities to Provide Anxillary Services from Photovoltaic Plants: Case of Luz de Norte (Chile)

Large-scale solar power plants are now the lowest cost new electricity generation resource, driving more and more solar to be added to the power grid every day. Grid operators are meeting the challenge of balancing electricity supply and demand in real time using new, flexible resources that enable untapped flexibility in solar generation.

A pioneering study prepared by ENGIE Laborelec, First Solar and Coordinador Eléctrico Nacional looks at the impacts of treating utility-scale solar plants as flexible or dispatchable resources on the grid. International experience has shown that it is possible, through appropriate adjustments of the control mechanisms of these plants, to contribute to the safety and reliability of the grid system. The energy transition towards a renewable energy matrix requires that the variability of the natural resource be compensated with sources of greater flexibility, and also that its participation in the range of services that contribute to the continuity of supply be increased. The study looks at Luz del Norte, a 141MW photovoltaic plant located in Chile and owned by First Solar, as the basis for data collection with the objective of demonstrating the technical feasibility of proving part of the ancillary services necessary for the reliable operation of the electrical system. The results obtained demonstrate the capabilities of photovoltaic plants, together with their control systems, to modify their production of active and reactive power in such a way as to provide ancillary services.

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