California's policy goals for achieving zero net energy (ZNE) in buildings along with the renewable portfolio standard (RPS) requirements will flex and strain the state's existing electricity grid. Changing load profiles from high efficiency ZNE buildings, enhanced demand response (DR) capabilities for reducing peak; and the high penetration of distributed generation (DG), especially solar PV, present a new set of challenges for the grid. By conservative estimates the solar market for residential new construction alone will need to increase 50 fold to meet the state's ZNE goal by 2020. An even larger proportion of distributed generation is expected from other market sectors, increasing the challenges the utilities face in managing the electricity grid. The CSI Program was launched in 2007 and is overseen by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). With a budget of over $2 billion dollars, the CSI aims to install 3000 MW of solar capacity in ten years. To support this lofty goal, the Commission approved a $50 million dollar carve out for solar research, development and demonstration. This paper will discuss the grid integration challenges facing the ZNE future along with how the California Solar Initiative's (CSI) Research Development Deployment and Demonstration (RD&D) Program is finding solutions through a portfolio of solar research projects. The range of RD&D projects include software tools for optimizing integrated demand side management (IDSM) by combining energy efficiency measures, demand response strategies with advanced storage and PV at the building and community level, to utility-scale analysis tools that study the impacts of DG on the distribution feeders and grid operations. These research projects address grid integration issues including interconnection of intermittent DG resources, innovative utility tariffs, and incorporation of advanced storage, solar forecasting, and advanced inverters for smart operation.
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