First published by JoNova: “…AEMO says growing solar power poses a growing threat to the security of the grid…”
AEMO says every state needs to shut down emergency power from solar over fears of 'system collapse'
Energy reporter Daniel Mercer reports
Topic: Energy Industry
Monday, December 2The agency responsible for keeping Australia's largest grid powered wants to provide emergency power to shut down or limit rooftop solar in every state to help cope with the daily deluge of output from millions of systems.
The Australian Energy Market Operator said in a report released on Monday morning that “urgent support” for electricity is urgently needed to ensure that solar installations can be shut down or switched off in extreme circumstances.
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AEMO said growing solar power poses an increasing threat to the security of the grid as it is phasing out all other forms of generation needed to help keep the system stable.
It also warns that unless there is the ability to reduce or reduce the amount of time rooftop solar is used, tougher and more disruptive measures will be needed.
These may include Raising voltage levels on parts of the pole network to “deliberately” trip or limit small solar power generation in some areas.
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Find out more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-02/aemo-demands-emergency-backstop-to-switch-off-solar/104670332
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) is the industry agency responsible for the stability of Australia's east coast power grid.
From the AEMO website;
minimum operating requirements
February 12, 2024
The following quote comes from Michael Gatt, AEMO's Executive General Manager of Operations.
Australia's electricity system was originally designed for electricity to flow from large power stations to homes and businesses through a network of substations and transmission lines.
Today, millions of rooftop solar systems feed power back to the grid, sometimes producing enough electricity to meet half of the nation's total electricity market demand.
As a market operator, we recognize that high contributions from rooftop solar are consistent with certain system conditions and require careful management to ensure power reliability and grid security while managing power system risks.
AEMO has flagged these emerging risks for many years and is developing appropriate emergency solutions with the support of state governments and network operators.
AEMO's “Leveraging High Levels of Distributed Resources to Support Safe Operations” report provides stakeholders with a status assessment of some of the new capabilities needed to safely operate NEMs during periods of high rooftop solar generation and low demand.
AEMO doesn’t want to directly control people’s rooftop solar.
In rare circumstances, AEMO may need to take action to ensure grid security, such as directing off-grid-scale generation, to address these emergencies, which often coincide with unplanned generation and transmission disruptions.
However, after all these actions have been exhausted, network operators may still be required to provide temporary management of rooftop solar under the State Government's Solar Management Scheme, although we expect this to only occur in very rare circumstances.
These actions help maintain the safety of the electrical system while also promoting the growth of rooftop solar installations.
AEMO supports the continued adoption of rooftop solar, residential batteries and electric vehicles, while maintaining reliable power support through a secure grid.
To this end, we are committed to new market design, trials and research, which will continue through the national CER roadmap approved by the Australian Energy Minister in July.
The CER Roadmap proposes an overall vision and plan for releasing CER on a large scale, and identifies measures to “fully unleash the potential of CER” by establishing the required mechanisms, tools and systems.
This includes measures to support continued power system security, in particular requiring the establishment of an emergency response safeguard mechanism by the end of 2025 to ensure operational safety when needed.
It also includes reforms to increase opportunities to participate in the CER market, including through enhanced coordination to enable customers to respond to market-based incentives, which will also help address the challenge of low operating demand.
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State rooftop solar management programs: Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria.
Learn more: https://aemo.com.au/newsroom/media-release/minimum-operational-demand
Spikes in grid voltage, deliberately spikes in grid voltage to trip safety systems seem very dangerous. Even a brief voltage excursion can start a house fire.
Electronic equipment is designed to operate within a narrow range of voltage and frequency conditions. While some devices, such as laptops and televisions, are generally tolerant of large deviations from the expected voltage band, other devices, such as large electric motors, and especially motors for home appliances such as washing machine electric motors or electric clothes dryers, may not be as tolerate.
Additionally, voltage spikes large enough to trip solar panels can also trip house circuit breakers, causing food in refrigerators and freezers to spoil.
It’s time to end this crazy rooftop solar experiment. Given that grid operators have suggested that deliberately disrupting grid voltage might be an acceptable emergency protocol to disconnect rooftop solar from the grid, this clearly doesn't work.
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