Photovoltaic energy deployment is paving the way for deep changes in the way electricity is produced and the grid is managed. While multi megawatts power plants and High Voltage power system remain the main drivers for balancing production and consumption, we see now the emergence of production of electricity and storage systems at Low Voltage level. This leads to new opportunities and challenges for active power balance and power system management. Demand Side Management is identified as a major opportunity and in this report the title “Network Driven Demand Side Management” has been chosen to emphasize a collaborative approach between decentral generation, loads, storage systems and the grid.

The solar resource shows variabilities, which influence the frequency, voltage and overall stability of electrical grids with high photovoltaic penetrations. Facing this challenge, legal limitations of the fluctuations of generated electricity (ramp rates regulations) are already effective or under discussion. As expected, small island grids with high solar penetration were the first to introduce ramp rate regulations: Puerto Rico has specified a maximum negative 1-minute ramp rate of 10 % of the rated capacity and Hawaii has defined a maximum negative ramp rate of 1 MW/min during certain times.