Funding entity MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
In the context of the MIT «Future of solar energy» study, it was determined to support the findings and the recommendations of the scoping paper with some quantitative modeling analyses. Research activities are focused on two complementary lines: «Integration of solar generation in wholesale electricity markets» and «Integration of solar PV at distribution network level».
In the first task, the framing questions to be discussed are:
- How much will solar generation affect the operation of the electric power system?
- How much will solar affect the long-term adequacy requirements?
- Which are the existing synergies and incompatibilities between solar and other technologies (nuclear, coal, wind, hydro, storage, etc.)?
- How much will increasing penetration of solar affect market prices?
On the distribution networks side, the objective is to understand the impact that different future penetration levels of PV would have in the required additional CAPEX and OPEX. Of special interest is to study the influence of the:
- Characteristics of the existing network: remaining capacity, geographic dispersion and local engineering practices;
- Spatial concentration of the new PV generation;
- Load profiles of existing customers;
- Radiation level.
2012_Future_of_solar_MIT
