Pretty clever tech but I can’t see this being more than redundancy in the case of blackout. Trying to co-ordinate thousands of distributed systems like this is nigh impossible.
Why not just build battery banks and use the existing transmission infrastructure?
I don’t think this is blackout redundancy, that would be more complicated and expensive to implement compared to just a grid-tied inverter + battery.
For this to work during blackouts it would need a very large inverter so that it can supply the entire draw of many (how many?) houses without browning out. I don’t think you could fit such a thing up poles unless you install one every few poles and do lots of rewiring.
The article only makes one claim about the operation mode of the batteries:
“They can store excess energy generated during periods of high production and release it during times of low production or high demand."
At a guess: they’re probably monitoring the line voltage and just choosing whether or not to input or output. At times of high demand (typically evenings) the 240V droops a bit low and they would start outputting to the grid. At times of high local solar supply (sunny midday) the 240V rises high and they would probably charge the battery.
Have a read about “solar voltage rise” for more info. Lots of home grid-tied solar installs have to limit their output during midday because the local network line voltage goes too high and risks blowing up appliances.
Trying to co-ordinate thousands of distributed systems like this is nigh impossible.
They (within limits) wouldn’t need to if they used the method I detail above.
…if they installed lots of these nearby to each other then they’d have to do some modelling of the control algorithms to make sure they’re stable. I’m sure someone will stuff that up at some point in order to optimise aggressiveness of charge/discharge ($ earned/saved) instead, leading to some fun news stories.
So basically with all the solar panels putting extra power into the grid, they’re already coordinating thousands of distributed systems and this is about balancing those against the actual demand.
Home-scale solar systems are typically not “coordinated” centrally. They have their own controller that chooses when and when not to export to the grid.
this is about balancing those against the actual demand.
Yes, based of my best interpretation of the (very minimal) info given in the article.
I’m wondering if they’re voltage regulators. The issue with solar is peaks and troughs - .a battery could be used to level it out.
They would have that effect. Pumping power into the local grid (depleting the battery) raises the local voltage. Pulling power out of the local grid (charging the bat) lowers the local voltage.
