Household photovoltaics will participate in grid peak regulation

China Energy Storage Network News: On January 22, the Shandong Supervision Office of the National Energy Administration issued the "Notice on Doing a Good Job in the Safe and Stable Operation of the Grid during the 2022 Spring Festival and Major Events", proposing that during the Spring Festival, on the premise of ensuring the safety of the grid and the stability of heat supply, during the low load period when conventional means cannot meet the peak load needs of the grid, it is necessary to follow the principles of "centralized first, then distributed", "non-household first, then household", and "fair, just, and open" to reasonably arrange new energy power to participate in peak load regulation to ensure the safe and stable operation of the system. Subsequently, all prefecture-level cities also issued the "Notice on the Participation of Low-voltage Distributed Photovoltaic Peak Load Regulation during the Spring Festival" in accordance with the spirit. This means that in some provinces with large installed capacity, household photovoltaics will participate in grid peak load regulation during specific periods.

Recently, the Shandong Provincial Energy Supervision Office issued the "Notice on Ensuring the Safe and Stable Operation of the Power Grid during the 2022 Spring Festival and Major Events". In accordance with the requirements of the "Notice", the power grid should reasonably arrange power peak-shaving measures. During the Spring Festival, on the premise of ensuring the safety of the power grid and the stability of heat supply, during the low-load period when conventional means cannot meet the needs of power grid peak-shaving, it is necessary to reasonably arrange new energy power to participate in peak-shaving in accordance with the principles of "centralized first, then distributed", "non-household first, then household", and "fair, just, and open" to ensure the safe and stable operation of the system.

In other words, during special periods, household photovoltaic power generation projects in Shandong Province will face the risk of power rationing. What impact will it have if Shandong household photovoltaic power generation projects are unable to fully absorb the power consumption? And to what extent will the scope of power rationing be expanded?

Power cuts expanded

After the release of the "Notice", some cities in Shandong Province began to issue the "Notice on Low-voltage Distributed Photovoltaic Participation in Peak-shaving during the Spring Festival". On January 18, Zaozhuang City clearly pointed out in the relevant "Notice" that due to factors such as the decline in electricity load and heating and heating guarantees during the Spring Festival, the power grid could no longer meet the full demand for new energy during the Spring Festival.

In fact, it is not new to impose power restrictions on renewable energy power generation projects during the Spring Festival in Shandong. As early as 2017, Shandong Province issued the "Notice on Doing a Good Job in Reducing the Peak Load of New Energy during the 2017 Spring Festival", requiring the provincial dispatch to notify local dispatching photovoltaic power stations to stop operating and adjust the peak load according to the principle of "abandoning wind first and then abandoning solar power" based on the operation of the power grid, and wind power projects to abandon wind in turn according to groups until they are completely shut down.

Wang Shujuan, deputy general manager of Beijing Xianjian Energy Consulting Co., Ltd., said that with the continuous increase in wind power and photovoltaic installations, Shandong Province's power restrictions during the Spring Festival have gradually expanded. "At first, only wind power was abandoned, not photovoltaic power, then only centralized photovoltaic power stations were abandoned, not distributed photovoltaic power, and later it developed to fully connected distributed photovoltaic power stations above 10 kilovolts also participating in peak load regulation. Now, even household photovoltaic power cannot escape the risk of abandonment during the Spring Festival."

According to the latest statistics released by the National Energy Administration, as of the end of December 2021, the scale of household photovoltaic installed capacity in Shandong Province included in the 2021 national fiscal subsidy scale reached 76.32183 million kilowatts, ranking first in the country. "At present, Shandong Province's household photovoltaic installed capacity has accounted for about 38% of the country's total household installed capacity." Wang Shujuan pointed out that with such a large installed capacity, the situation of household photovoltaics is no different from that of ground power stations. "When household photovoltaic power stations reach a certain penetration rate in the power grid, they must participate in dispatching. If such a large scale does not participate in grid dispatching, during the low-load period of the Spring Festival, the photovoltaic output will increase significantly during the noon period, which may really have an impact on the safety of the power grid."

Will it affect profits?

The reporter learned that Shandong Power Grid has started to renovate the grid-connected boxes of household photovoltaic power generation projects in its jurisdiction and install remote control systems to cooperate with grid dispatch. All subsequent household photovoltaic projects will also be installed with this system.

Will participating in grid dispatching affect the revenue of household photovoltaic power generation projects?

Wang Shujuan said that January is the month with the lowest photovoltaic power generation in the year. If the power restriction factor is added, the electricity bill income in January will definitely be greatly reduced. "For household photovoltaic projects carried out in the loan model, repayment will be very stressful." Wang Shujuan also reminded that the risk of power restriction should be fully considered when carrying out financial calculations for distributed photovoltaic projects in the future.

Although facing the risk of power cuts, Liu Yiyang, deputy secretary-general of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association and secretary-general of the Household Special Committee, emphasized that the power cut warning for household photovoltaics in the "Notice" issued by Shandong Province is limited to the special period during the Spring Festival. "Moreover, household photovoltaics are ranked very low in the power cut sequence, just to let owners prepare for power cuts. Even if power cuts really occur during the Spring Festival, it will not have a big impact on the overall benefits of the project throughout its life cycle."

In addition, Liu Yiyang believes that as my country's "electrification" continues to improve, electric vehicles, electric heating and other forms of electricity use continue to be promoted, household electricity consumption is bound to show an annual growth trend, and the space for "self-generation and self-use" of household photovoltaics will be further stimulated. "Short-term power restrictions will not shake the basic foundation of the household photovoltaic development market."

The potential of power grid peak load regulation needs to be tapped

Although the "basic situation" has not been shaken, Liu Yiyang also pointed out that Shandong Province's move has revealed certain policy signals. In some provinces with large installed capacity, household photovoltaics will be restricted from power during specific periods and participate in grid peak regulation.

Wang Shujuan said that with the introduction of the policy of promoting photovoltaic development in the whole county in 2021, distributed photovoltaics across the country will usher in a new stage of rapid development. As the scale of installed capacity expands, participating in grid dispatch has become an inevitable trend for distributed photovoltaics in the future. "The situation in Shandong will be a beginning. More and more places such as Hebei and Henan will require household photovoltaics to participate in grid dispatch."

Statistics from the National Renewable Energy Information Management Center show that the total installed capacity of household photovoltaic projects newly included in the national fiscal subsidy scale in December 2021 was 5.0898 million kilowatts. As of the end of December 2021, the total installed capacity of household photovoltaic projects included in the 2021 national fiscal subsidy scale nationwide was 21.5962 million kilowatts.

"As household photovoltaics are booming, higher requirements are placed on the peak-shaving capacity of the power grid." Liu Yiyang pointed out that various peak-shaving methods at the power grid level need to be further tapped. "At the same time, the market-based trading mechanism to ensure the consumption of new energy also needs to be quickly followed up and effectively implemented."