Curtailment

China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) and State Grid Corp. of China (SGCC) may ramp up PV curtailment to clear up space for new renewables projects that are struggling to obtain grid connections. Only up to 5% of PV output can currently be curtailed from solar plants, but the authorities are trying to decide whether to take a greater percentage of generation offline.

University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers have looked at energy losses in South Australia and have identified average curtailment of 1.5% for distributed PV sites and 0.2% for distributed PV coupled with batteries, but some locations experience generation losses of up to 25%.

The typical volume of excess clean power wasted daily on the island has rocketed since last year. With a fossil fuel industry veteran heading the energy department after February’s presidential election, what prospect is there of a green transition?

Transmission and energy storage limitations in Texas resulted in wasted renewable energy last year.

Dutch utility Liander said this week that the number of curtailment events for residential PV systems more than tripled in the first half of this year, and urged owners of rooftop arrays to expand electricity consumption during peak hours.

Daniel Westerman, the CEO of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), says that renewable curtailment in Australia has risen by approximately 40% from last year.

With AI-enabled devices able to take the money-saving efficiency of lithium batteries to an incredibly granular level, research by Inion Software shows simple changes by inverter manufacturers would enable devices of almost any age to be “smartened up.”

Japan’s Okinawa Electric Power Co. has introduced PV curtailment measures in response to high solar radiation levels and low energy demand.

While near neighbors, the electricity generation of the countries of Southeast Asia couldn’t be further apart. Indonesia burns locally mined coal; Malaysia has reserves of oil and gas; and populous Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines depend on fossil fuel imports. They could all benefit from increased solar electricity but higher grid capacities and interconnection are key for an opportunity to unlock the power of the sun.

The Heysham site is intended to reduce curtailment from half a dozen offshore wind farms and to replace local grid services which will be lost when two nearby nuclear reactors are powered down.