With the rise and rise of rooftop solar showing no signs of stopping in Australia, the market operator says 'emergency' powers to control it are urgently needed.
The Australian Energy Market Operator wants "emergency backstop" powers to switch off or turn down rooftop solar systems in every state.
But AEMO said they needed to be extended to all states by next year as the amount of rooftop solar reached ever greater levels and the risks to the security of the grid became critical. At no time would that effect be more obvious than spring, when solar output would soar as the days grew longer and sunnier but demand was subdued as mild temperatures meant people would leave their air conditioners switched off.
An even more dramatic step would be to "shed" or dump parts of the poles-and-wires network feeding big amounts of excess solar into the grid. Nevertheless, AEMO said these physical properties were invaluable to the grid and helped it ride through shocks such as the sudden and unexpected loss of a major generator or a high-voltage transmission line.
But AEMO also suggested efforts could be made to increase demand for power in the middle of the day to capitalise on cheap, abundant solar generation in those times.And the agency said storage such as batteries would help to "move energy from daytime periods to other periods, increasing demand when required particularly during emergency conditions".
AEMO Solar Rooftop Emergency Backstop Powers Switch Off Curtail National Electricity Market South Australia Queensland Victoria
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