- Surplus output during peak hours is turning prices negative
- That’s straining other generators key to balancing supply
France’s power-grid boss said wind and solar farms will have to fully participate in balancing the electricity network like other generators if renewables are to continue their rapid expansion.
“Renewables have become a major player of the electricity system,” Xavier Piechaczyk, chief executive officer of Reseau de Transport d’Electricite said at a conference in Paris Tuesday. “Tomorrow, they must have the same rights and the same duties as others to keep growing rapidly.”
Soaring clean energy capacities are increasingly pushing power prices into negative territory across western Europe during hours of peak solar and wind output. The phenomenon is straining coal and gas-fired plants, many of which are still needed to balance power supply when renewables aren’t available. Operators of nuclear power plants, such as Electricite de France SA, have also raised concern.
Subsidies that encourage renewable generators to keep producing even when prices turn negative should be reviewed to ensure the grid can accommodate more clean power, Piechaczyk said. At the same time, measures to address the surplus output have to be carefully designed, as some have led to power output being curbed too abruptly, he added.
Renewable power producers must also participate much more in maintaining the grid’s voltage and frequency, the grid chief said. To optimize the cost of clean energy growth, producers will also have to accept systems that allow the grid operator to automatically curtail output, Piechaczyk said.
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