|
|
|
|
| Clean Energy Maui |
Clean Energy Maui
"We never change
things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a
new model that makes
the existing model obsolete."
-BuckminsterFuller Clean Energy Maui develops technologies, plans and concepts to move the island of Maui to 100% renewable energy by 2020.
Chris Mentzel, Founder
News: California gets a new pumped hydro plant - we need one too!
Is it true that additional solar energy installations make the grid unstable?
It seems to be common wisdom on Maui these days that PV systems make our island grid unstable and that this instability increases with every additional system. Because of this reasoning, the current laws limit renewable energy to 3% of the island-wide peak demand and limit it to 15% of an individual feeder. These limits have been installed through a political process but have little engineering justification. A simple thought experiment disproves the assumption at the basis of these limits.
Imagine a single PV system. A cloud passes over it. The output power drops 60-80% and recovers after the cloud has moved on. This is a short-term disturbance of the grid.
Imagine now 10 PV systems, one after the other. As the cloud passes over them, the reduced output of one PV system is matched by the recovery of the system before it. Now the short-term disturbance occurs when the cloud covers the first system and then again when it leaves the last one.
Grid stability has not decreased 10 times, it could even be said to have increased by having more PV on the grid. It's time to lay the myth to rest that limits PV systems and encourage a fast changeover to renewable energy.
The above graph was in paper 14 in a conference on grid variability. It shows clearly how much smaller the effect of 16 PV systems is on the grid (red) compared to the effect of 1 system (grey).
Watch Jon Steward below dismantle the renewable energy promises of eight presidents. He is hilarious!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|