So many Australians have installed solar panels on their roofs that the grid is on the verge of collapse.

Australia’s grid operator issued a rare warning on Friday: electricity demand is dangerously low. Rooftop solar power generation in Victoria will reach levels so high next day that grid managers will seriously question their ability to keep the electricity system stable.

Numbers. In Australia, one in three single-family homes has grid-connected solar panels. There are so many homes self-sufficient in solar power that the operator predicted demand would be below the threshold needed to keep the system stable.

In Victoria, the country’s second richest state, the electricity grid is designed to handle between 1,865 and 10,000 megawatts, but typically has to cover about 5,000 megawatts. At midday on Saturday, electricity market operator AEMO forecast electricity demand to be just 1,352MW, the lowest level in recent history.

Emergency measures. AEMO considered several emergency measures to stabilize the system, such as disconnecting solar panels from roofs or limiting the discharge of excess. He also considered the possibility of restarting failed high-voltage lines to reduce excess energy.

Finally, it was decided to notify owners of large batteries to keep them discharged in anticipation of a glut of solar energy.

Context. With a cumulative capacity of more than 20 GW, solar energy is already Australia’s main source of electricity. Much of this energy comes from photovoltaic panels on rooftops.

Increased production reduces the demand for electricity from the grid, especially on sunny and warm weekends when consumption is moderate. To make matters worse, these homes uncontrollably dump electricity they do not use (surplus) into the grid, further compromising its stability during periods of low demand.

Why is this dangerous? Electricity cannot be easily stored on a large scale, so its production must match energy consumption in real time. If demand exceeds supply, the electrical grid can become overloaded, resulting in blackouts, power outages, or damage to electronic devices and appliances. In addition, thermal power plants must continue to operate to stabilize the system.

Renewables complicate this process because they are intermittent, which is why we are seeing more and more oversupply problems: there would be no grid instability if the grid were flexible, but to achieve a flexible grid dominated by renewables, larger ones are needed batteries. Systems are needed that store energy during periods of low demand and use it when demand is high.

Nice offer. Thanks to the operator’s expectations, nothing serious has happened in Australia, but it is likely that the problem will get worse. Ultimately, electricity market reform or better management of excess rooftop solar energy will be required.

The network limit is no longer reached during peak demand in summer due to the use of air conditioning, but on sunny and mild days such as Saturday. It’s a welcome revelation: with solar energy breaking records, Australia already meets up to 70% of its energy needs using renewable sources.

Image | Sunny Australia

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