TC Scientific (Canada)

A number of challenges have been encountered in interconnecting a third-party solar farm to an existing refinery power distribution system over a pole line. There were limitations of the solar farm inverter fault sourcing ability, as well as operational challenges in maintaining appropriate system power factor. There were additional constraints imposed by the cyber-security requirements of interconnecting protection communications systems between multiple parties. The power transmission authority imposed additional constraints. And there were constraints due to the existing refinery infrastructure, both regarding inter-operability with existing switchgear relays and limitations of existing switchgear. These challenges and the implemented solutions will be discussed, along with possible alternate solutions to some of these challenges. We anticipate some of these challenges will be encountered by others in the pursuit of alternative power supply sources.