Small-scale domestic solar could cause power failures

In the new study, mathematicians from Nottingham University used data from smart meters to track how grid composition changes over time and found resilience varies over the course of a day and that a high uptake of solar panels can leave the grid more susceptible to failure. Their findings have been published in Science Advances.

Just over one million small-scale domestic solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are installed in the UK. These small-scale, renewable generators are low-output and intermittent and often distributed across and embedded within power grids in large numbers.

Household generation forms a key component of the integration of renewables and includes the ‘feed in tariff’ which pays the producer for supplying their stored power back to the grid. This supply of power is unpredictable with generators coming on and off-line intermittently and households adopting the role of consumers or producers as daily and seasonal usage, and meteorological conditions vary. According to the researchers, these fluctuations can put the grid at risk of system failures.