Welcome
The CalSolarResearch website provides information about the California Solar Initiative (CSI) Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment (RD&D) Program activities, including the program’s history and current CSI RD&D solicitations. Please check back regularly for updates!
Latest Updates
Request for comments on DRAFT of Fourth Solicitation
Release date: May 16, 2013
The draft of the fourth CSI RD&D Grant Solicitation is now available for review and comment. All comments should be submitted through the website using the online comments form.
- Download the PDF of the draft solicitation document.
- For information on the current solicitation click here.
- To submit comments, click here.
- Last Day to submit comments: May 31, 2013
Draft Solicitation Summary
Up to $7 million in funding for grid integration research is available through this solicitation. The primary objectives for this solicitation include:
- Overcoming existing barriers to integrating high penetration PV into the electricity grid; and
- Accelerating the integration and interconnection of high penetration PV into the grid.
SMUD - High Penetration PV Initiative - final project presentation
Date: Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM PDT
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) and its partners will conduct a final project webinar on their high penetration PV initiative project. The project team will present software and hardware tools that were developed and used to see the impact of higher amounts of PV on the grid.
Register to attend webinar: https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/854672455
UC Irvine webinar - final project presentation (rescheduled)
Date: Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Time: 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM PT
Title: Development and Analysis of a Progressively Smarter Distribution System
The University of California, Irvine will conduct a final project webinar on their research which focused on the development and analysis of a smarter distribution system and the impacts of high penetration PV. The UCI team developed models and simulations to quantify PV integration limitations which supported the evaluation of smarter distribution systems. UCI developed and tuned their models on representative residential and commercial distribution circuits, verified the distribution circuits with monitored field data and quantified PV integration limits on two of these circuits. They also tested the feasibility and interaction of advanced PV inverters on these circuits. The UCI project was funded by the CPUC's California Solar Initiative (CSI) Research, Development, Demonstration and Deployment Program. This webinar will present the objectives of the project, the technical accomplishments, findings and lessons learned. The webinar will close with a discussion of the market relevance, potential impacts of the research findings and proposed next steps. Dr. Scott Samuelsen and Dr. Jack Brouwer are the primary investigators and presenters of this webinar.
Register to attend webinar: https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/570118199
UC San Diego webinar - final project presentation
Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM PT
Title: Improving Economics of Solar Power Through Resource Analysis, Forecasting, and Dynamic System Modeling
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) and its partners will conduct a final project webinar on their solar forecasting research. The UC San Diego team developed and validated solar resource models and forecasting tools to support the goals of the California Solar Initiative (CSI). The webinar will cover the following topic areas:
- An integration study on a SDG&E distribution feeder with high solar penetration and highly temporally and spatially resolved cloud fields from sky imagery.
- An analysis of soiling losses for 186 CSI PV sites.
- Solar resource data products for topographic shading, PV performance, and PV output downscaled to 1 sec resolution.
- An overview of the analysis of aggregate ramps from distributed PV output in California.
The UC San Diego project was funded by the CPUC's California Solar Initiative (CSI) Research, Development, Demonstration and Deployment (RD&D) Program.
Register to attend webinar at: https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/314251311
CPUC DOE Solar Forum 2013
The webcast recording and presentations from the Solar Forum 2013 held in San Diego, on Feb 13-14, are now available here.
