{"id":378021,"date":"2025-05-12T18:12:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T16:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=378021"},"modified":"2025-05-12T18:12:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T16:12:04","slug":"what-happens-when-there-is-too-much-solar-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=378021","title":{"rendered":"What Happens When There Is Too Much Solar\u00a0Power"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Paul Homewood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
https:\/\/gridwatch.co.uk\/<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

At midday today, solar power was supplying 11.2 GW out of a total demand of 28.27 GW. (This is after adding back solar, which normally appears as a reduction in demand, because it is embedded generation).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mad Miliband plans to triple the current solar capacity of 16 GW by 2030. So, on a sunny day like today in 2030, we might see solar power running at 33 GW. You can add to that figure solar power from all the rooftops he wants to make compulsory for new homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now call be dim \u2013 but demand of 28 GW and solar power of 33 GW might cause a few problems for the grid! On top of that 33 GW, you also have nuclear, which cannot be simply turned on and off, and wind power, much of which is also embedded and out of reach of the NESO to control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is one thing paying a couple of large wind farms to switch off. But you cannot do the same with embedded generation, because they come under the control of regional distribution networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few solar farms have battery storage, and in any event, you could not rely on individual solar farms from sending their power to storage rather then the grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idiots in charge of energy policy doubtless think we can export surplus power, but Europe won\u2019t want it either, because their grids will also be overloaded in summer with solar power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which brings us back to the Spanish blackouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excess solar power will quickly destabilise the grid, leading to the same doom loop as in Spain. Generators and substations will trip out, nuclear will immediately shut down for safety reasons and grid frequency will drop to dangerous levels. This then leads to a domino effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without any gas power, there will not be enough inertia to give time for system operators to react. Not that that will make any difference, because there is nothing, they could do to save the grid from collapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mad Miliband plans to triple the current solar capacity of 16 GW by 2030. So, on a sunny day like today in 2030, we might see solar power running at 33 GW. You can add to that figure solar power from all the rooftops he wants to make compulsory for new homes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":330208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691819142,691831484,691830864,691831352,691818267],"class_list":{"0":"post-378021","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-energy-policy","9":"tag-energy-secretary-ed-miliband","10":"tag-gas-power","11":"tag-neso","12":"tag-solar-power","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/00-blackout-GettyImages-466231145-770.jpg?fit=1959%2C1272&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1Al7","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":365938,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=365938","url_meta":{"origin":378021,"position":0},"title":"Why Solar Power Does Not Work in\u00a0Britain","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/13\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Crazy Ed Miliband wants to cover the countryside with hundreds of industrial scale solar farms.","rel":"","context":"In \"Energy Secretary Ed Miliband\"","block_context":{"text":"Energy Secretary Ed Miliband","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=energy-secretary-ed-miliband"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Llanwern_Drone_4_-_credit_NextEnergy_Capital.jpg?fit=1200%2C670&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Llanwern_Drone_4_-_credit_NextEnergy_Capital.jpg?fit=1200%2C670&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Llanwern_Drone_4_-_credit_NextEnergy_Capital.jpg?fit=1200%2C670&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Llanwern_Drone_4_-_credit_NextEnergy_Capital.jpg?fit=1200%2C670&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0Llanwern_Drone_4_-_credit_NextEnergy_Capital.jpg?fit=1200%2C670&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":386182,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=386182","url_meta":{"origin":378021,"position":1},"title":"Too Much Sun","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/01\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Saturday, the 28th of June, was, you may recall, both sunny and windy. Solar power peaked at 10.9GW at 1.00pm, while wind power was running at 12.4GW. Total electricity at that time was 32.3GW, including 2.51 GW, 0.90GW and 4.79GW from gas, bio and nuclear respectively.","rel":"","context":"In \"double onshore wind\"","block_context":{"text":"double onshore wind","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=double-onshore-wind"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/OIG.Lrbgef0x_.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/OIG.Lrbgef0x_.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/OIG.Lrbgef0x_.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/OIG.Lrbgef0x_.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":389221,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=389221","url_meta":{"origin":378021,"position":2},"title":"Ed Miliband to unleash new gas plants to back up patchy wind and\u00a0solar","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/17\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Neso told to keep spare generating capacity on standby amid blackout fears","rel":"","context":"In \"Energy Secretary Ed Miliband\"","block_context":{"text":"Energy Secretary Ed Miliband","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=energy-secretary-ed-miliband"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-2.-Mai-2025-12_11_51-2.png?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-2.-Mai-2025-12_11_51-2.png?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-2.-Mai-2025-12_11_51-2.png?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-2.-Mai-2025-12_11_51-2.png?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":272191,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=272191","url_meta":{"origin":378021,"position":3},"title":"Labour\u2019s Energy Plans Will Lead To\u00a0Blackouts","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/08\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Ed Miliband announced Labour\u2019s new Energy Policy at the Party Conference last year. Its centrepiece is a commitment to totally decarbonise power generation by 2030, to be achieved by doubling onshore wind, trebling solar power and quadrupling offshore wind.","rel":"","context":"In \"Blackouts\"","block_context":{"text":"Blackouts","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=blackouts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-280.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-280.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-280.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-280.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":346723,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=346723","url_meta":{"origin":378021,"position":4},"title":"Why an age of energy rationing is looming over\u00a0Britain","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/14\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"It was the warning Ed Miliband didn\u2019t want to hear. Days after the Energy Secretary pledged low-carbon power for all at Labour\u2019s annual conference, energy giant EDF discussed plans to close four of the UK\u2019s five remaining nuclear power stations.","rel":"","context":"In \"Ed Miliband\"","block_context":{"text":"Ed Miliband","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=ed-miliband"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0Three-barriers-to-energy-efficiency-and-how-to-overcome-them-1-1536x864-1.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0Three-barriers-to-energy-efficiency-and-how-to-overcome-them-1-1536x864-1.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0Three-barriers-to-energy-efficiency-and-how-to-overcome-them-1-1536x864-1.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0Three-barriers-to-energy-efficiency-and-how-to-overcome-them-1-1536x864-1.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/0Three-barriers-to-energy-efficiency-and-how-to-overcome-them-1-1536x864-1.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":350310,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=350310","url_meta":{"origin":378021,"position":5},"title":"NESO Say We Must Keep All Our Gas Plants\u00a0Going","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/06\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"According to NESO, most of this demand flexibility will revolve around smart charging of EVs and use of thermal storage. The idea of making us charge our EVs at night is hardly new; nor are electric storage heaters. But these only switch demand from one time of day to another,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"clean energy\"","block_context":{"text":"clean energy","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=clean-energy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0net-zero-istock-1190148959.jpg?fit=1200%2C761&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0net-zero-istock-1190148959.jpg?fit=1200%2C761&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0net-zero-istock-1190148959.jpg?fit=1200%2C761&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0net-zero-istock-1190148959.jpg?fit=1200%2C761&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/0net-zero-istock-1190148959.jpg?fit=1200%2C761&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=378021"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":378029,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378021\/revisions\/378029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/330208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=378021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=378021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=378021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}