Grid Engineering
Envision tomorrow’s grid.
Designing the 21st century electrical grid is one of today’s most important and exciting challenges. Electricity needs across the world are growing and an outdated electrical grid relies on centralized, finite sources of power. SolarCity aims to transition the grid to one built upon the wave of distributed energy resources – solar, battery storage and intelligent load – that are proliferating across the industry. Our vision is making a cleaner, more affordable and resilient grid.
Build a better grid today.
Our Grid Engineering Solutions team is leading efforts to make the 21st century's distributed grid a reality. At SolarCity, grid engineering is more than understanding how the current power system works and how to interconnect distributed energy resources. It encompasses a cross-functional approach to evaluating engineering, economic, technology, and policy considerations side-by-side. We are applying our expertise in power systems engineering, energy economics, and advanced grid technology to unlock innovative solutions that enable the grid of the future. In doing so, SolarCity is helping solve challenges that prevent the transition from our current grid to the one that we need.
Partner for a resilient future.
The design and operation of the new distributed power grid presents a major opportunity for partnering across the energy industry. Collaboration across utilities, grid operators, regulators, national laboratories, philanthropists, environmentalists, distributed energy resource providers, energy service providers and customers is paramount to meeting the challenge of modernizing the grid. We welcome any dialogue that helps foster the next generation of grid design and operations.
Additional resources
In the materials below, we offer a selection of grid engineering research, white papers, best practice reviews and proposed solutions that we believe will support our shift to the distributed grid of the future.
A Pathway to the Distributed Grid: This report presents an economic, technical, and policy analysis of how an electric grid embracing DERs—such as rooftop solar, batteries, and smart inverts—offers a substantially better economic alternative to today’s centralized grid design. DERs bring greater total economic benefits at lower cost, enable more affordability and consumer choice, and improve flexibility in grid planning and operations, all while facilitating the decarbonization of our electricity supply.
Integrated Distribution Planning: We propose a holistic approach to meeting distribution needs and expanding customer choice by modernizing utility interconnection, planning, procurement and data sharing processes to leverage the benefits of DERs.
Utility Mitigation Requirements: In this paper, we identify the most common utility mitigation requirements, offer recommendations on whether each upgrade is justified based on the most recently available research, and identify cost effective alternatives where applicable.
PV impact on distribution voltage: Recent studies suggest utility concerns over the impact of distributed solar on distribution voltage are unwarranted in the majority of utility feeders, and suggest increased penetration thresholds before requiring detailed power quality and voltage interconnection studies.
Reclose Blocking: Utilities have required reclose blocking as a mitigation measure to address concerns regarding unintentional islanding of distributed generators. However, recent research shows that reclose blocking is a conservative and redundant mitigation measure that should not delay the interconnection of inverter-based generators on the grid.
The following products and services are currently available or under development:
GridLogic: This turnkey solution helps communities obtain clean, affordable and resilient energy as a single service. It's a microgrid-as-a-service solution that provides communities with a way to use locally generated energy to hedge energy costs, while powering critical facilities when the central grid is unavailable.
To be informed when new research or white papers are published on this page, please submit your information in the form below. To connect with our Grid Engineering team to explore opportunities for leveraging distributed energy resources in the design and operation of the grid, contact us at gridx@solarcity.com.
