Post #1883139

2023-06-04 10:09 UTC

The PV panels provide as much power as they can and leave the rotating masses to sort out the rest. But this is fine only if you have a relatively small amount of this unregulated power in your grid, and the rotating fossil fuel generators can compensate for any fluctuations in consumption *and* PV supply. If your PV supply varies between, say, 20% and 60% of your demand, then your generators need to provide between 40–80% of the energy. Things might get complicated then.

Replies (2)

@sbi@toot.berlin 2023-06-04 10:10

On a sunny day, only 40% of your fossil fuel generator capacity is needed, but if some dark clouds come by, you might suddenly need 80% of it. And you need to be prepared, because cloud cover changes within minutes or seconds. However, rotating generators might need considerable time to startup and shutdown, so in order for a generator to quickly take over, it needs to already be running. But they usually have a minimum power output, and that might be considerable.

Open ##1883140
@tetron@hachyderm.io 2024-04-06 20:59

@sbi This is super interesting. My town had a municipal electric service with a strong commitment to providing renewable power and several existing solar installations, and I was just reading an article about how they are proposing to build battery banks to absorb excess solar production, and this thread explains some of the reasons why very well. Thanks!

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