"You want the sweet sound coming from the system, you don't want this horrible, messed up, uncoordinated noise. "The assets we have on our books … many of them no longer provide the services they would have traditionally provided. AEMO chief executive Audrey Zibelman said these challenges tended to be most acute when high levels of solar output coincided with low levels of demand — typically on mild, sunny days in spring or autumn when people were not using air conditioners.On those days, excess solar power from households and businesses spilled uncontrolled on to the system, pushing the amount of power needed from the grid to increasingly low levels.Ms Zibelman said WA's isolation amplified this trend because the relative concentration of its solar resources meant fluctuations in supply caused by the weather had an outsized effect.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.The problem was coal-fired plants were not designed to be quickly ramped up or down in such a way, meaning they were ill-equipped to respond to sudden fluctuations in solar production. "If you put dumb batteries in — in the way we have dumb solar — that's not going to help.He said coordination within the power infrastructure was the key to success.
"The concern we have for the first time in probably the history of this industry is you start thinking about sunny days during the spring or [autumn] when you don't have a lot of demand, because you don't have a lot of cooling going on. According to recent research from IRENA, “the renewable energy sector in the U.S. provides nearly 770,000 jobs, with the solar industry alone now surpassing the number of jobs in the oil and natural …
"The change is happening rapidly, but I also know in the meantime we have a strong hand on ensuring the system remains stable. The picture is not all rosy, but if the recent past is any indication, solar power is going to help lead the transition to a carbon-free future, and it might do it faster than we all expected. Their aggregate share has doubled since 2015. Rise of Personal Solar Power By Nicole Huntley | 2.7.17 The solar power industry has been enjoying its time in the sun due to increased growth over the past few years. "That has really made a huge difference in terms of how we think about the power system. Sign up for the The impact of job losses and work stoppages has been greatest in the distributed generation sector, which includes residential and commercial projects. Last year alone we helped hundreds of families go solar. newsletter
In Western Australia, one of the sunniest landscapes in the world, rooftop solar power has been a runaway success.On the state's main grid, which covers Perth and the populated south-west corner of the continent, almost one in every three houses has a solar installation.Combined, the capacity of rooftop solar on the system far exceeds the single biggest generator — an ageing 854-megawatt coal-fired power station.But there is now so much renewable solar power being generated on the grid that those responsible for keeping the lights on warn the stability of the entire system could soon be in jeopardy.It is a cautionary tale for the rest of the country of how the delicate balancing act that is power grid management can be severely destabilised by what experts refer to as a "dumb solar" approach. Solar power is on the rise. You can get the upgraded OnePlus 7 Pro for $450 right nowThis model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage usually costs $699HP’s latest 15-inch Omen gaming laptop is $300 off at Best BuyIt packs in a six-core processor, the RTX 2060, a 300Hz refresh rate display, and moreApple’s refurbished AirPods Pro are over $50 off at Best BuyThis clinches the lowest price yet, but they’re not brand-new "The onslaught of renewable energy in WA has cut a swathe through the finances of state-owned electricity provider Synergy.A "challenging energy landscape" and the rise of rooftop solar power blows a hole in the WA utility.Synergy chief executive Jason Waters noted the bottom-line result was dragged lower by writedowns in the value of Synergy's fossil fuel-fired power plants — revaluations caused in large part by the solar-led changes in the market.But he said the decisions had to be made to reflect the new order, and they would put the utility in a much better position to plan for the future.