As the push for renewable energy accelerates, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is poised to inject $7 billion into the development of rooftop solar, community solar farms, and energy storage through “Solar for All” grants. These investments are crucial for expanding solar energy access, decarbonizing the grid, and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. However, it also raises critical questions about how our aging power grid, already strained and facing reliability challenges, can manage the surge in intermittent solar resources.
Opportunities and obstacles
Solar energy is rapidly becoming a dominant force in the renewable energy landscape. In the first half of 2024 alone, it accounted for 67% of all new electricity-generating capacity added to the US grid. By converting sunlight into electricity, solar offers a clean and virtually unlimited source of power. However, as more households and communities adopt solar technology — particularly rooftop solar and community solar farms — the burden on the grid will increase. Solar energy is intermittent; its output varies depending on the time of day and weather conditions, peaking when the sun shines but dropping to zero at night and during cloudy weather. This variability presents complications for maintaining consistent power quality and reliability.
With a grid that is already under strain and past its prime, the rapid adoption of solar energy adds further stress. How can we maintain a reliable energy supply with such an unpredictable source? How do we maintain power quality with such variations? Addressing these challenges is essential as solar energy continues to comprise a larger portion of the energy mix.
An overburdened grid
The infrastructure of the US power grid wasn’t built to handle the increasing complexity that comes with integrating renewable energy sources. Many regions already face reliability issues and frequent outages due to the age of their grid systems. The rapid growth of solar energy, alongside other distributed energy resources (DERs), will only amplify these existing pressures.
One of the main challenges is balancing supply and demand. Traditional grid models have centralised energy production from power plants flowing in a predictable manner to consumers. However, with solar energy, the flow can reverse — power generated by rooftop panels and solar farms is fed back into the grid. This reversal creates new technical challenges for grid operators, who must now balance varying inputs and outputs to prevent voltage fluctuations and maintain power quality.
Strategies for grid reliability in the solar age
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To ensure grid stability as solar power becomes more widespread, several key approaches can be employed to support a resilient grid in the era of renewable energy.
Strategic planning through grid modernisation and data analytics
Grid reliability starts with accurate, data-driven planning to anticipate infrastructure needs. Utilities can leverage advanced data analytics to forecast solar energy production and model demand fluctuations at both the system and distribution levels. By leveraging data-driven insights, utilities can prioritise transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure investments and explore non-wire alternatives — like automated load management — to defer certain upgrades while staying National Electric Code (NEC)-compliant.
Grid modernisation extends beyond expanding capacity; it also involves deploying smart grid technologies capable of real-time monitoring, which provide utilities with detailed visibility into energy demand and solar production fluctuations. These smart systems, equipped with advanced sensors and automation, enable utilities to anticipate issues, mitigate risks, and make precise, data-informed adjustments to stabilise grid performance.
Achieving visibility and flexibility with grid edge solutions
Incorporating flexibility into grid design is critical as solar and other renewable energy resources increase. Some new and high-impact loads like EV chargers and residential solar installations do not currently require interconnection, making it challenging for utilities to track their impact on the grid and manage them effectively. To close these visibility gaps, utilities can deploy grid edge intelligence to detect, locate and respond to newly electrified resources and gain critical visibility into dynamic load patterns.
Utility-scale energy storage systems — particularly batteries—also play a crucial role in addressing solar power’s intermittency by storing excess energy during peak sunlight hours and discharging it during high demand or low production periods. This stored energy helps balance the variability of solar production and supports load management efforts, ensuring a reliable power supply as solar adoption grows.
Proactive asset management for grid reliability
Once utilities have established reliable planning and visibility frameworks, they can shift to a proactive strategy. Rather than controlling distributed resources directly, utilities can adopt an approach that coordinates and dispatches these resources in a way that supports overall grid needs. Demand response programmes, which compensate customers for adjusting their energy usage during peak demand periods, are a key component of this strategy. By encouraging consumers to shift usage patterns in response to grid conditions, utilities can alleviate stress on the grid and maintain stability without extensive physical infrastructure upgrades.
This strategy also enables utilities to access a wide range of distributed assets—such as residential solar, battery storage and other flexible loads — in real-time, creating a dynamic, responsive grid. By dispatching these resources based on current demand and supply conditions, utilities can balance load more effectively and enhance resilience against unexpected outages.
Building a resilient renewable energy future
The grid’s ability to accommodate the growing influx of solar power will be a deciding factor in the success of our clean energy transition. By investing in grid modernisation, advancing energy storage technologies, leveraging real-time data, and fostering greater flexibility, we can prepare the grid to not only manage the variability of solar power but also provide a reliable, stable foundation for a sustainable energy future.
—Renewable Energy World
