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πŸ“‹ Case Study

Hawaiian Electric DERMS: Island Grid Stability with 87% PV Penetration

Severe duck curve, rapid ramp events, island grid inertia deficit, and limited transmission interconnectivity

πŸ—οΈ Project Overview

Statewide aggregation platform managing >1 GW distributed solar across Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii Island

🎯 Challenge

Severe duck curve, rapid ramp events, island grid inertia deficit, and limited transmission interconnectivity

πŸ”§ Design Approach

Hybrid edge-cloud architecture: island-level edge nodes for sub-second frequency response, cloud for day-ahead scheduling and ISO bidding; integrated with HECO’s ADMS via IEC 61970/61968 CIM

πŸ“ Design Diagram

Hawaiian Electric DERMS Island Grid Stability @ 87% PV Penetration β€’ Severe duck curve β€’ Rapid ramp events β€’ Inertia deficit β€’ Limited interconnectivity Edge Node (sub-second response) Cloud Platform (day-ahead & ISO bidding) ADMS IEC 61970/61968 CIM Key Metrics: Inertia Eq.: 18.7 MWΒ·s/Hz Ramp Limit: 92 MW/min Edge Control Cloud Scheduling ADMS Integration

AI-generated project design illustration

πŸ“ Key Calculations

Inertia Equivalent (MWΒ·s/Hz)

Ξ£(DER Inertial Response Gain Γ— Rated Power)
Result: 18.7
Compensates for synchronous generator loss

Ramp Rate Limit (MW/min)

0.1 Γ— Total Aggregated MW
Result: 92 MW/min
Prevents grid instability during cloud transients

πŸ“Š Results

Reduced unscheduled curtailment by 41%; enabled 100% renewable midday operation; passed NERC TOP-2 reliability audit

πŸ’‘ Lessons Learned

  • β€’Island-specific inertia emulation algorithms required custom development
  • β€’CIM-based ADMS integration cut outage restoration time by 39%
  • β€’Edge node failover must occur within 120 ms to maintain frequency stability

βœ… Key Takeaways

  • 1Island-specific inertia emulation algorithms required custom development
  • 2CIM-based ADMS integration cut outage restoration time by 39%
  • 3Edge node failover must occur within 120 ms to maintain frequency stability