
The rise of solar power is jeopardising the Western Australia energy grid - classichasclass
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-01/rise-of-rooftop-solar-power-jeopardising-wa-energy-grid/11731452
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thu2111
One of the looming problems as solar/wind power ramps up I don't see discussed
much is the loss of system inertia. Grids rely (almost implicitly) on the fact
that power comes from big, heavy spinning turbines of various kinds. The sheer
weight and inertia of these turbines ends up synchronised together via the
grid, and provides stability to it. But solar has no inertia and wind has only
tiny turbines, so they don't contribute much either. As system inertia falls
that will increase the risk of blackouts. I've seen this problem discussed
amongst electrical/grid engineers but I've never seen reference to any
solutions.

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mdorazio
"The only way to manage the solar was to scale back or switch off the coal-
and gas-fired power stations that were supposed to be the bedrock of the
electricity system."

Well that's your problem right there, combined with the previous "antiquated
regulations that acted as a barrier to investment in storage capacity, such as
community or grid-scale batteries." At least from the article it sounds like
they recognize the solutions needed are smart storage and better over-
production management. However, I don't see any talk in the article of a
seemingly simple solution: add regulation that if you want to connect your
panels to the grid (feeding excess generation into it) you have to also have a
sizable battery connected to the grid.

