To avoid blackouts when household solar exports outstrip electricity demands, SolarQuotes founder Finn Peacock says it’s “likely” South Australia will need to remotely and temporarily shutdown residents’ solar systems. Counter to public opinion, Finn Peacock is adamant this curtailment is a win.
“I think it’s really, really good news that there’s so much renewables in Australia’s grid. Every now and again we’re going to have to switch some of it off,” Peacock told pv magazine Australia. “When you’ve got so many renewables, it’s going to happen and that’s fine.”
On September 28 of this year, the South Australian Power Networks received authorisation from the government to remotely and temporarily shut down solar power systems in emergencies. The move came after report from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) identified “the very real threat” of blackouts as the state moves towards its target of 100% renewables by 2030.
Good news, badly sold
Citing solar analyst Jenny Chase, Peacock believes the capacity for renewables to be curtailed should be seen as a feature rather than a bug, the real problem is how long it took the government to identify the solution and how “hamfistedly” it had rushed it through without adequate warning and explanation.
“It seems to me that no thought was given to how to sell it to the homeowner,” Peacock said. The first many South Australians heard of the solar shutdown plan, he believes, was through dramatic newspaper headlines declaring the government was switching off residents’ solar. The reaction to the circulation of those stories has been, unsurprisingly, alarm. Peacock says it’s even led to a noticeable depression in the state’s solar market.
According to the SolarQuotes founder, the government has done almost nothing to counter this narrative – a wasted opportunity in his view. “With a bit of planning, you could sell this to the South Australia public as a really good thing. It means we’re absolute world leaders in the integration of renewable energy into the grid.”
The government have also failed to quantify to the public what the plan actually means to them monetarily, which Peacock says will actually be negligible. “It’s going to be very small numbers in terms of dollars, but no one has communicated that,” he said.
“If there’s anyone in Australia losing more than $20 a year form it, I’ll eat my hat.”
Canary in the coal mine
Describing South Australia as a “canary in the coal mine,” since the state has the highest penetration of renewables, Peacock believes it’s “inevitable” the rest of Australia will also need to curtail renewables to avoid similar blackout issues sooner or later. What’s astounding for the expert is just how long it has taken the government to realise this.
“We were talking about too much solar being a problem for the grid when I worked for the CSIRO in 2008… For the government to only start thinking about minimum demand in early 2020 is absolutely nuts. They’ve left it way too late,” Peacock said.
What’s more, the government only gave industry six weeks notice of the changes. “As an engineer, looking at that, I was like ‘wow, this is just insane. What an ask!’ but to their credit, [manufacturers] did it.”
Industry’s nimble response and desirable solution
Applauding companies like SwitchDin, SolarEdge and Solar Analytics for their nimble response to the government’s rather “brut force solution,” Peacock says he was “pleasantly surprised” by the solar hardware companies. “[They] actually very quickly put together a better technical solution.”
Rather than shutting down the system entirely, manufacturers have designed and implemented a solution for new systems where a signal is sent through the internet telling inverter to stop exporting. The solar system can then continue to provide power for the household, but no longer exports excess energy to the grid, avoiding putting the grid in danger of blacking out.
Despite the impressive response of industry, the government has done the scheme a major disservice by rushing it through, according to Peacock. “You’re just maximising the chance of something going wrong, when you rush things… [there’s a] high risk of things going wrong in the engineering implementation because the industry is given such short notice, and the second thing is they haven’t had time to prepare the public and sell the advantages.”
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I don’t understand the concern about needing to curtail solar production in the event of oversupply. As an engineer myself I have looked at my own micro-inverter based 9kW system, and others, and they are all voltage limited. In my case the system will progressively and (relatively) smoothly reduce production as voltage climbs. If demand drops then voltage will climb and by the time the voltage has hit the upper legislated limit the solar system will have ceased to output any power and will sit and wait for voltage to drop again.
Where’s the problem?
Provided there is a means of stabilising and managing frequency, such as is provided by the Sth Aus Hornsdale Power Reserve (big Tesla Battery) then the system should be largely self regulating.
Time now for another big battery or pumped storage if there is excess power.
Absolutely, a flood of cheap stored power will flow into industry which means more jobs.
As with load/supply and demand, how about the sudden disconnect of overcast clouds & rain 🤷♂️ Then, put into this senecio. A sudden increase or drop out of a power station ( going offline/black ) yep, them 👀👀 that watch a meter in their own house, don’t see the full picture of the whole system of the state in any real way or kindred relationship to elsewhere ! To what’s going on in real time… eh, anyone recall the sudden collapse of the overhead feeder lines a few years ago 🤔🤔🤔 yeah, case dismissed 👍
This excess power is basically free energy and will increase in amount over the coming years. Tony Seba calls it ‘super power’ and can be used for all sorts of useful things. The greater the excess power the less battery backup required since solar panels rarely produce absolutely nothing on a bad day. This ‘super power’ will be available over 90% of the time. Lots of industries will eventually reconfigure to take advantage of this essentially free though slightly intermittent power.
As examples, take desalination – a large cost is the energy required. The economics of it will completely change when the energy is very cheap or free, but can only operate 90% of the time and not at night. Large shopping centres may offer free car charging to encourage shoppers, with the proviso that this will only be available 90% of the time ( and not at night – forgetting about wind power for the moment)
This excess power should be celebrated. Solar is getting so cheap there will be tons of it. Our entire economy will reconfigure in very short order to take advantage of it. This will be completely driven by economics, not politics. Arguing about climate change will be a thing of the past as it will be irrelevant.
Check out RethinkX.com for in depth analysis.
Haha.. this is the greatest spin since Bill Clinton said “I did not have sex with that woman” And about as believable.. For 18 years SA had a tree hugging Labour Govt that told everyone to go solar because they simply could not keep up electricity demand. They gave out subsidies to renewable pipe dreams to the point that electricity in SA was some of the most expensive in the world. No wonder people took up panels.. And now we are supposed to believe that there is too much solar power..? Pull my other leg, it plays “Waltzing Matilda” What we really have here is electricity companies greasing Govt palms to get their profits up to closer where they used to be.. Like the saving water campaigns some years back.. sure people saved water.. And then the service charges went up.. Give me a break..!!