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.