The installed capacity of photovoltaic (PV) systems has recently increased at a much faster rate than the development of grid codes to effectively and efficiently manage high penetrations of PV within the distribution system. In a number of countries, PV penetrations in some regions are now raising growing concerns regarding integration. Management strategies vary considerably by country-some still have an approach that PV systems should behave as passive as possible, whereas others demand an active participation in grid control. This variety of grid codes also causes challenges in learning from "best practice." This paper provides a review of current grid codes in some countries with high PV penetrations. In addition, the paper presents a number of country-specific case studies on different approaches for improved integration of PV systems in the distribution grid. In particular, we consider integration approaches using active and reactive power control that can reduce or defer expensive grid reinforcement while supporting higher PV penetrations

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The design of the latent heat thermal storage system (LHTESS) was developed with a thermal capacity of about 100 kW h as a part of small solar plant based on the organic Rankine cycle (ORC). The phase change material (PCM) used is solar salt with the melting/solidification temperature of about 220°C. Thermophysical properties of the PCM were measured, including its phase transition temperature, heat of fusion, specific heat, and thermal conductivity. The design of the thermal storage was finalized by means of the 3D computational fluid dynamics analysis. The thermal storage system is modular, and the thermal energy is delivered with the use of thermal oil, heated by Fresnel mirrors. The heat is transferred into and from the PCM in the casing using bidirectional heat pipes, filled with water. A set of metallic screens are installed in the box with the pitch of 8-10 mm to enhance the heat transfer from heat pipes to the PCM and vice-versa during the charging and discharging processes, which take about 4 h. This work presents a numerical study on the use of metallic fins without thermal bonding as a heat transfer enhancement method for the solar salt LHTESS. The results show that the absence of the thermal bonding between fins and heat pipes (there was a gap of 0.5 mm between them) did not result in a significant reduction of charging or discharging periods. As expected, aluminum fins provide better performance in comparison with steel ones due to the difference in the material conductivity. The main advantage observed for the case of using aluminum fins was the lower temperature gradient across the LHTESS.

Cooling the surface of large format batteries with solid conductive plates, or fins, has an inherent advantage of reducing the number of liquid seals relative to some mini-channel cold plate designs, as liquid is not passed through the numerous individual plates directly. This may reduce the overall pack leakage risk which is of utmost importance due to safety concerns associated with the possibility of a cell short circuit and thermal runaway event. However, fin cooling comes at a cost of an increased thermal resistance which can lead to higher cell temperatures and a poorer temperature uniformity under aggressive heat generation conditions. In this paper, a novel graphite-based fin material with an in-plane thermal conductivity 5 times greater than aluminium with the same weight is presented for advanced battery cooling. The thermal performance of the fin is benchmarked against conventional copper and aluminium fins in an experimental programme cycling real 53 Ah pouch cells. The results from the extensive experimental testing indicate that the new fin can reduce both the peak measured temperature and surface temperature gradient by up to 8 °C and 5 °C respectively, when compared to aluminium fins under an aggressive electric vehicle duty-cycle.