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Home » Renewable energy » Renewable solar energy power challenge to grid
Renewable solar energy power challenge to grid
Whether renewable energy power will be a challenge to the grid depends on how renewable energy based distributed generation is connected to the grid. It need not be mentioned that, off-grid renewable energy generation is not a threat but it would rather complement the grid in providing power to remote and inaccessible areas where the grid has not reached.
But when it comes to grid connected distributed generation, even countries like US have not found a fool proof solution to the issues related to the grid. This is because, Distributed generation implies KW sized small scale generation. renewable energy generation be it Wind, Solar or Small Hydro have daily or seasonal peaks and troughs of generation. For distributed generation, the size of the plant being small, most plants do not have mechanisms to provide a stable feed to the grid, as it does not make the plant viable.
In view of the above, grid connected distributed generation implies that the grid will be subjected to a number of sporadic small feeds from different sources, plants, locations and different parts of the day and year. This would be a serious risk to the grid provided a number of intricate smart meters manage the load and the feed at each level of the grid. India's grid is not designed to manage such feeds yet. I understand that there are many states that are promoting grid connected distributed generation, but they are still in conceptual or development stages. The issues will start coming up as the plants start coming into operation. The only way to take advantage of distributed generation is to use them for off-grid generation or at best for isolated micro-grids.
But when it comes to grid connected distributed generation, even countries like US have not found a fool proof solution to the issues related to the grid. This is because, Distributed generation implies KW sized small scale generation. renewable energy generation be it Wind, Solar or Small Hydro have daily or seasonal peaks and troughs of generation. For distributed generation, the size of the plant being small, most plants do not have mechanisms to provide a stable feed to the grid, as it does not make the plant viable.
In view of the above, grid connected distributed generation implies that the grid will be subjected to a number of sporadic small feeds from different sources, plants, locations and different parts of the day and year. This would be a serious risk to the grid provided a number of intricate smart meters manage the load and the feed at each level of the grid. India's grid is not designed to manage such feeds yet. I understand that there are many states that are promoting grid connected distributed generation, but they are still in conceptual or development stages. The issues will start coming up as the plants start coming into operation. The only way to take advantage of distributed generation is to use them for off-grid generation or at best for isolated micro-grids.
We had a workshop the other day with IIT Mumbai, some leading discoms and inverter manufacturers. The take there was that (a) there are no issues with respect to either stability or safety with distributed power (all handled by the inverter) at penetration levels of less than 20% and that (b) distributed power generation might actually stabilize the grid. The 20% threshold seems to be a rough guess. No one seems to know where it actually lies.
Conceptually the intelligent inverter can handle the grid volatility and synchronization and re-synchronization in case of a failure; which is where the Inverter manufactures might be coming from. However my reservation is especially for the Indian grid which is conventionally designed only to handle transmission from high voltages to low voltages; and is not yet designed to handle significant uncontrolled two-way feeds; especially from a distribution level to a medium or a high voltage transmission level. Secondly the grid is also not designed to handle sudden voltage disruptions for example due to a sudden cloud cover. Thirdly the affect of these would be very unpredictable - the impact could range anywhere from low quality power output to a total grid failure. The impact would be further compounded if there LT/HT consumers connected to the local grid during the such incidents. Unless there are some regulations such as mandatory grid assets and penalties enforced on the distributed developers and some safeguards for the consumers, especially in the local grids where the distributed power is being fed, we might be heading for a disaster. Indian grid has a long way to go when it comes to implementing such regulatory measures.
These are my reservations, but I guess if the Discoms also participated in the discussion they would be in the know of such issues. I rest my case.
These are my reservations, but I guess if the Discoms also participated in the discussion they would be in the know of such issues. I rest my case.
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