Performance and Value Analysis of the Kerman 500 Kw Photovoltaic Power Plant

The Kerman Photovoltaic Power Plant is unique, not in the particular photovoltaic equipment selected, but in the siting of the plant in relation to the electric power system and how the plant interacts with that system. Kerman is the world’s first plant designed and built specifically to measure the benefits of a photovoltaic system to the local distribution grid. In addition to the traditional energy and capacity values typically attributed to generation sources, several non-traditional benefits were quantified. In providing energy services to its customers, a utility’s expenses can broadly be categorized into capital costs for system expansion and operating costs for the actual generation and delivery of electrical energy. Construction of the Kerman plant allowed the calculation of several benefits which either allow deferral of capital costs or reduced operational costs. Performance of the plant over the past year and an evaluation of all the benefits are discussed. For Kerman, the value of non-traditional benefits doubled the value of the plant compared to the evaluation of only energy and capacity. The Kerman grid-support project challenges current resource planning methods to be expanded to adequately capture the impact of photovoltaics and other distributed generation resources.