Patent ID: 8774974

Claim:
A real-time photovoltaic power plant control system, comprising: a grid interface controller configured to receive power information from a power grid and provide commands for controlling at least one of active or reactive power supplied by a photovoltaic power plant to the power grid; a power plant controller configured to receive commands from the grid interface controller and to direct, in real-time, active or reactive power output of the power plant; a plurality of local controllers connected to and controlled by the power plant controller; and a plurality of inverters each connected to supply power from at least one photovoltaic device to the power grid and arranged such that each local controller is connected to and controls at least one inverter, the inverters reporting status information in real-time back to the local controllers, and the local controller reporting status information, in real-time, back to the power plant controller; wherein the grid interface controller is further configured to control a stored energy bank to supplement power output of the photovoltaic power plant.