Effective integration of large amounts of renewable energy into the grid is of utmost importance for sustainable future and greener smart cities. Due to the unpredictable variations in weather, over 80% of the available renewable energy from solar and wind sources cannot be harnessed effectively. Large scale and cost-effective integration of photovoltaic energy into the smart grid is challenging due to: (a) unpredictability and intermittency of weather pattern, (b) fast morning ramp up and afternoon ramp down of solar generation that triggers instabilities in the grid, (c) unavailability of solar generation at sun down requiring the need for locational energy storage facilities, and (d) lack of technologies for efficient and intelligent on-demand sharing of solar generation with conventional power generation in the grid. Additionally, as conventional generators are replaced by high-penetration levels of renewable energies (mostly PV generation), the existing rotating kinetic energy in the power system will be notably reduced, causing in a loss of system inertia. Current technologies of solar integration are based on unreliable weather prediction and ineffective load sharing that make the overall grid performance unreliable and inefficient, thus necessitating the need for a broader outlook of the whole picture.
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