Network operator Stedin, in cooperation with energy supplier Eneco, is starting a pilot in Zeeland in which homeowners will be asked to temporarily turn off their solar panels on sunny days for a fee. Being smarter with energy helps prevent breakdowns or voltage problems. But also when the electricity grid is overloaded. The purpose of this new approach is to learn how willing households are to help relieve the power grid.
The number of households with solar panels has increased significantly. As a result, at some times more is generated than consumed. As a result; a full power grid. During the sunniest moments, 50% of the electricity generated comes from consumers’ solar panels. This is only expected to continue to grow.
Manual, temporary shutdown
David Peters, CTO of Stedin: “We want to use this pilot to learn how we can get consumers to participate in relieving pressure on the power grid. If this goes well then we want to deploy this more widely and this can create more space for sustainable generation. In the pilot, Eneco customers are asked to manually, temporarily switch off their solar panels. If this works well we also want to look at automatic solutions for customers who give permission to do so.”
The pilot lasts from Aug. 20 to Sept. 30. Based on how often the households switch off the panels, the total fee will be calculated. Stedin has been asking companies in Tholen and Schouwen-Duiveland to turn off their solar panels for some time. So now this request also applies to households.
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