Laying the Foundation for the Grid-Tied Smart Inverter of the Future

The purpose of this white paper is to highlight the major economic benefits and technical advancements PV Powered and its partners—Portland General Electric (PGE), Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL), Sensus, and Northern Plains Power Technologies (NPPT)—are pursuing under the Solar Energy Grid Integration System (SEGIS) Stage 2 program to address the challenges utilities will experience as the penetration of distributed photovoltaic power generation increases.

The SEGIS program advancements will help lay the foundation for an “intelligent” or smart inverter capable of integrating large-scale photovoltaic power generation into the Smart Grid with greater stability and protection, and at a far more competitive Levelized Cost of Energy. By providing the monitoring, control, and other capabilities utilities need to successfully integrate high penetrations of distributed photovoltaic power, the industry will be in a better position to satisfy even the most aggressive Renewable Portfolio Standards.