India should stop adding solar farms. Now
The post India should stop adding solar farms. Now appeared first on The Ken .
On 20 July, residents in Haryana protested due to power cuts caused by an excess of solar-generated electricity in the afternoon. Haryana's power grid experiences significant fluctuations in demand, with solar energy dominating during the day and causing shortages in the evening. India's solar power capacity has skyrocketed 58 times in the last decade, reaching 162 GW, but this surge has led to instability in the grid.
The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister found that the net load, or the excess electricity demand not met by solar power, fluctuates wildly throughout the day. Thermal power plants, which bear the brunt of this fluctuation, suffer damage during peak solar output and suffer shortages in the evenings. Despite this, India's operational battery storage capacity remains limited to 2.7 GW, providing only temporary relief.
While increasing battery storage could mitigate these issues, the government has yet to prioritize this solution.
Written by urgent.news from The Ken's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
