State Commission Surge Call: IEEE Std 1547 Revision and Distributed Energy Resource Interconnection Standards

The report, State Commission Surge Call: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standard 1547-2018 (IEEE Std 1547) Revision and Distributed Energy Resource (DER) Interconnection Standards, highlights key takeaways for regulators.

Technical Report

State Commission Surge Call: IEEE Std 1547 Revision and Distributed Energy Resource Interconnection Standards (National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners 2018)
The surge call presentation was provided by Minnesota Public Utility Commission to demonstrate how their early action could serve as a model for other states considering its adoption. This document aims to highlight the key takeaways for the regulators from this presentation.

Revision of IEEE Std 1547 was released in April 2018. The purpose of the revised standard is to increase the DER hosting capacity by exploiting the advanced inverter functions, while ensuring system reliability. The revised standard defines the state commission as the authority governing interconnection requirement. The authority governing interconnection requirement is tasked with choosing performance technology and selecting inverter settings and functions among others.

The conformance testing IEEE Std 1547.1 is yet to be revised to reflect the changes in IEEE Std 1547-2018. The equipment certified for compliance will be available commercially only by 2020 or 2021. States can utilize the time until then to begin the process of updating. Currently, Minnesota Public Utility Commission has divided the work into two phases.

Phase I was completed in 2017 where they updated the interconnection process, applications, and agreements. In Phase II, technical expertise was called in to review and make edits to the technical requirements proposal.

It is important for state regulators to recognize that IEEE Std 1547-2018 is neither a standalone nor an exhaustive guide on interconnection yet. So, regulators need to consider certain features that lie outside of the standard such as single line diagrams and inadvertent export.

This document provides numerous resources published by various governing authorities to help states get started.

Key Takeaways

The key takeaways mentioned as a part of Phase II are:

  • Familiarity with IEEE Std 1547-2018
  • Establishing a technical sub-group with utilities and DER experts
  • Coordination with RTO/ISO
  • Concerns regarding consumer protection, transparency, and dispute resolution
  • Customized workshops for states for a smooth transition
  • Interim considerations for equipment.

Share