CLIMATE SPECTATOR: Can solar PV get smart?

Imagine solar PV actually providing a solution to peak demand and network costs, rather than being a cause. The solution is there, but the incentives are not.

By Giles Parkinson ·
8 Sep 2011

Climate Spectator

Rooftop solar PV has boomed in the past 12 months but it is often accused of causing nothing but trouble. It is expensive, it doesn't cut emissions, it misses the peaks and causes problems for network operators by creating a surge in voltage levels when too many are concentrated in a single area. A bloody pest, say some.

Gradually, though, the myths surrounding these issues are being unwound. Costs are falling, so when subsidies are removed it will cut emissions at no public cost. Now new technology, in the form of "smart inverters” are being developed to solve the very issues that solar PV is accused of causing, and will mean that solar PV can be used to optimise the performance of networks and reduce the level of peak loads. Rather than being accused of adding to costs, it will reduce the need for expensive network upgrades, which are currently budgeted at $45 billion and account for most of people's rising electricity bills.

The concept of smart solar systems is being developed in Australia by Queensland-based consultancy Evolve Energy, and is being trialled as part of the Solar Cities program on Magnetic Island. It's technical stuff, dealing with the concept of active and reactive power, and I'm not going to go there in detail (those who want to can find something here).

The basic concept is this: by attaching smart inverters to individual modules the voltage surges that have been the blight of local networks with a lot of solar PV are managed, to the point where the network barely notices their presence.