As we rush to decarbonize everything around us by electrifying, solar panels—now cheaper per square foot than marine plywood—will do most of the hard work. But until we rethink how our rooftop panels connect to the grid, the transition will be unfair and expensive for both those with solar panels (electric cars and smart devices) and those without.
Australia has the highest number of solar installations per capita in the world. When solar panels produce more energy than a home consumes, the excess electricity can feed into the grid. Rooftop solar panels regularly supply more than a quarter of the national electricity market's daily electricity. In South Australia it sometimes exceeds 90%.
The amount of solar power on our grid affects how the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and distribution companies (owners of the transmission lines) turn on the lights. Measures taken affect costs for solar households as well as non-solar and grid operators. So how can we make the system fair for everyone?
We recommend treating solar panels as apple trees. If you have a tree in your garden, you can use as many apples as you can produce. However, selling an apple for a profit carries additional responsibility, as well as uncertainty about delivery and a fair selling price.
Our new research paper published in The Electricity Journal describes fairness principles and offers a list of rights and responsibilities when connecting to the grid.
What is wrong with the current system?
Sometimes the amount of solar energy exported can be too much for the grid.
Therefore, the inverter (a box with solar panels on the wall of the house) has settings that automatically reduce the power exported when the grid power is under load. Other mechanisms will also be implemented by AEMO to phase out the power of rooftop solar panels to ensure the security of the electricity grid.
However, these measures not only reduce the electricity entering the grid from the house, but also reduce the total power of the system on the roof of the house. There is no fundamental reason for this, just that the appropriate converter and control parameters are not enabled.
However, this means that sometimes households cannot use the electricity produced. In South Australia, the annual cost of this concession to consumers is now between A$1.2 and A$4.5 million. It's not right.
But it's also unfair that solar owners pay to export power when prices are negative, meaning other producers have to pay to keep their exports online. It is more common in South Africa and the latter part of Victoria, accounting for more than half of all daylight hours.
It is unfair that distributors keep building more towers and lines to accommodate large exports of solar power. Or if the system operator needs to buy more stock to cover the uncertainty of the rooftop solar system.
In this case, all customers pay their bills, whether they have solar panels or not. However, non-owners suffer the most when the costs of these measures are passed on to others. Those without solar panels on their roofs face the risk of a 20-25% hike in electricity prices from July 1.
Some solar panel owners will hardly notice this increase.
It is time to rethink the social contract of the electricity grid
Australia's electrification will replace fossil fuels for homes, businesses, vehicles and industry. The number of rooftop solar panels is expected to increase by 5 times. With increasingly decentralized energy resources, how will homes interact with the power grid in the future?
We believe that the social contract of power grids in the 19th century. It must evolve from a 21st century pay-plug-and-play expectation to a bipartisan commitment to equality for all.
Going back to the apple tree analogy, if you have a tree in your yard, you can eat as many apples as you want and make cider, cider or whatever. However, selling apples at a profit comes with a responsibility not to spread cod. And selling crackers or cider is subject to food safety and licensing.
And the price? It depends on truck availability and local market price. Maybe you or our government would pay the trucks more so that someone could sell the apples, but that would probably be inefficient and dishonest.
Our main difference is that we grow and profit from it ourselves. Obviously, the analogy is not perfect. Apples are not essential to life, the apple truck is not a regulated monopoly, and apple supply and demand do not have to balance every second.
However, the principles remain, especially in a future where apple trees (solar roofs) and apple stores (home batteries and electric cars) will be everywhere.
A fair balance between rights and obligations
In our research, we distinguish passive use rights (using your solar energy on your roof) and active use obligations (selling electricity).
No one can stop you from using the electricity you generate yourself (in most cases). But if you're making money online, you'll likely have to commit to having your exports handled periodically by trusted parties like network operators (a system known as flexible export limits).
If you charge and discharge batteries cost-effectively, you will probably be responsible for providing some details of expected usage to the operator to help manage the network.
Even in countries with abundant solar energy, energy prices are not always guaranteed.
We need to think about this new social contract. If we don't, electrifying everything will be harder, more expensive, less equitable and dependent on large projects that require new transmission lines that are difficult and expensive to build.
The history of distributed electricity is incredible: power is literally at our fingertips when we flip a switch, ride a bike or buy a product. Now is our chance to make it better and fairer for all of us.
This article is republished by The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. 
Citation : Think of solar panels like apple trees: We need to take a closer look at what we use and sell, researcher says (June 2, 2023) https://techxplore.com/news/2023-06 Retrieved ( June 2, 2023) ) -. solar-panels-apple-trees-fairer.html
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