Advanced grid development

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Wind energy and solar-PV energy are the world fastest-growing energy resources. This trend indicates that the level of penetration of the wind and solar-PV power in the electric power grid will significantly grow within the next 2-3 decades. From 1996 to 2014, the level of wind power penetration in the power utility grid has almost exponentially increased from 6100-MW to 293,500-MW. The price of PV-cells has dramatically dropped during the last decade and resulted in significant technical and economical incentives for further utilization of solar-PV power and resulted in its high depth of penetration in the utility grid. The estimated global PV-power capacity for 2017 is 322,000-MW. The Canadian solar electricity capacity has increased from about 50-MW in 2009 to (estimated) 2000-MW in 2014. Furthermore, to the surprise of the industry observers, large-size solar-PV power plants, e.g., 290-MW and 550-MW plants, also have become technically and economically viable and successfully integrated in the utility grid.