Rooftop Solar Helps Reduce Peak Demand in Heatwave

New data shows that businesses and households contributed largely to lessening peak demand and capping wholesale electricity costs in South Australia last week. The data also shows that rooftop solar was one of the many factors that resulted in reduced demand peaks in the midst of the heatwave.
According to Solar Citizens, rooftop solar was providing more capacity at the demand peak than would have been provided by the now-closed Northern coal-fired power station in Port Augusta.
RenewEconomy also reported on its website that grid demand did not peak until after 6 oçlock in the evening on Tuesday and Friday because of the rooftop solar capacity. The South Australia campaigner for Solar Citizens, Dan Spencer, said, “Without solar, demand on the grid would have peaked just after 3 pm on Thursday. Instead, rooftop solar provided more power than the now-closed Northern power station in Port Augusta, keeping the lights on with clean energy.”
Spencer also noted that on Friday, rooftop solar lessened the peak by 358.6MW “far exceeding the capacity of the government’s new backup generators.”
The report also mentioned that the results from the rooftop solar capacity in South Australia are not uncommon. It was reported by grid owners and network operators from the last few years that rooftop solar has pushed back the peaks from mid to late afternoon to early evening.
“Everyday, people generating their own clean power meant that peak demand was pushed back by more than 4 hours until after 7 pm on Thursday and by nearly 3 hours on Friday,” Spencer wrote in a statement.
He further added, “Along with raising South Australia’s renewables target, we are calling on all South Australia politicians to do more to make cost-cutting rooftop solar accessible to all South Australians. More accessible solar means that more people will be able to take back control of their electricity bills while helping to safeguard the grid.”
For the full report, visit this site.