Too much of a good thing?
This is a remarkable achievement for a country that had virtually no solar installations just two decades ago.
Any excess energy has been exported to other states.
Nationwide, demand for grid power that cannot be supplied by rooftop solar has plummeted to record lows.
Spring creates ideal conditions for an oversupply of solar power to the grid.
Unfortunately, abundance isn’t always beneficial.
She likened it to rainfall that overflows and cannot be captured by reservoirs.
When rooftop solar was negligible, its impact on the grid was minimal.
He highlighted two main solutions: increasing demand during these periods or curtailing solar and other energy outputs.
Advances in inverter technology could enable solar systems to contribute to grid stability services, offering a partial solution.
However, he acknowledged that storing all surplus solar power would not be economically viable.
This creates a need for trade-offs between costs and capturing every bit of solar output.
Establishing sufficient energy storage infrastructure is expensive, particularly when much of the excess power is not immediately required.
