Solar Surprise - Stabilizing the Grid

Solar Surprise- Stabilizing the Grid

Having recently moved from Mystic CT back to Tucson, the North East holds a special place in my heart.
There, the weather is much different. Here we struggle with the heat, there they struggle with the cold. Far more heaters (natural gas and oil) there and far more air conditioning here.

One of the major concerns for the two major grid operators in the area surrounds the subject of natural gas. The natural gas pipes supply the homes and the power plants. During the summer- all is good, the homes aren’t using much, if any, natural gas to heat the homes. In the winter however- homes begin drawing large amounts of natural gas.

This sudden and sizable increase in natural gas demand adds risks to the natural gas power plants. So much so that they have contingency stockpiles of natural gas or oil to fall back on if something were to happen.

Having lived there, I am torn as to what’s more important. Keep the natural gas supplied to the homes so they can at least stay warm, or to the power plant so they can at least have electric power. Just like extreme heat- extreme cold ain’t no joke…

That’s the backdrop of this story where the the local grid authority (ISO New England) recently concluded months of research and found a surprising result.

The region’s power grid has been strengthen by cold-weather sunlight…

“The expansion of rooftop solar in New England is keeping the lights on during winter, surprising the region’s grid operator and challenging long-standing assumptions that the growth of renewable energy could destabilize the power system.”

It appears that the addition of the rooftop solar to the grid has helped to stabilize the grid so much that they are now looking to finally shut down the Mystic Generating Station- one of two  power stations that were granted a subsidy in 2018 by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in order to bolster ‘fuel security’.

Translated to normal-people-speak: rooftop solar in New England has added enough power and stability to the regional grid that they were able to shut down an unprofitable power plant that was subsidized to stay open by the federal government in order to maintain grid security.

Wow.

Homeowners in New England have added so much rooftop solar that the grid was able to decommission one of the regions ‘dirtiest’ power plants and eliminate the federal spending associated with the FERC subsidy?

Just wow!

Go here to scope out the full article:

Rooftop solar was overlooked. Now it’s closing a New England power plant.
https://www.eenews.net/articles/rooftop-solar-was-overlooked-now-its-closing-a-new-england-power-plant/

Like I learned in the Philippines, it is ‘Same Same, Only Different’ here for us in Tucson. For us, we have a seasonal large power draw for heating and air-conditioning where some of the heat demand is mitigated by the large number of natural gas furnaces so our ‘concern’ might be in the summer. And as we all know- summer heat ain’t no joke here…

So, what does all of this mean? Well, I think it has really interesting implications in the greater discussion about the future of our grid, and how to power it. There’s been a very long standing disagreement about nuclear, fossil fuel, and ‘renewable’ power sources and one of the major battle cries of the fossil fuel supporters has always been:

Renewable = Unreliable

A bald-faced attempt by the FF industry marketing arm to discredit solar/wind/water power by suggesting that since solar and wind are intermittent (only makes power when sun shines or wind blows) that means they are unreliable.

I giggle when they try to conflate intermittent with unreliable, and I often argue online about it. But, that’s just my opinion and it doesn’t carry too far, but…

Now we have a major grid operator stating matter of factly that rooftop (not industrial) solar in the region has strengthened the grid during the heavy winter usage period.

I guess I was more right than I knew when I started saying rooftop solar is viable, reliable, and in many cases affordable.

If you are looking into rooftop solar for your home or business, click here to get notified when Tucson Solar Insider Desk Guide for Buying Solar is released.

Be Good!
Curtis