The SunDial Framework: Enabling High Penetration Solar through the Integration of Energy Storage, Demand Management, and Forecasting

Abstract

An open data exchange standard and vendor-agnostic control platform (the “SunDial System”) are used integrate facility loads and demand management, battery energy storage, and solar PV by optimizing power flow on the distribution system in high-penetration solar environments. The integration of forecasting and dayahead shaping of customer loads enabled by SunDial reduces the need for storage by 10-20% and reduces LCOE by $\sim$10 % at solar penetrations ranging from 50 to 150% of peak load. A pilot deployment manages a portfolio of 1.5MW of PV, 0.5MW/1.0MWh battery, and 3.5 MW of customer load on a National Grid distribution feeder through June 2019 over a range of use cases.