Even as India continues to broaden its photo voltaic and wind capability, there will likely be a rising requirement for “firm” and “dispatchable” era capability to fulfill demand when photo voltaic and wind era will not be obtainable.

The “firm” and “dispatchable” capability requirement, whether or not it’s era or storage, will likely be decided by the online demand, i.e. the electrical energy demand minus the era met by non-dispatchable sources equivalent to wind and PV. The pronounced surge in photo voltaic era in the midst of the day considerably reduces the necessity for standard energy sources equivalent to coal throughout photo voltaic hours. Conversely, because the solar units and photo voltaic era decreases, the online electrical energy demand rises sharply, ensuing within the distinctive “neck” and “head” form of the net-load curve that resembles a duck. 

The emergence of the duck curve highlights two essential points associated to grid integration of VRE. Firstly, the online demand that have to be met by dispatchable sources is rising at the next price throughout non-solar hours in comparison with in photo voltaic hours. For instance, if we examine the typical net-load curves for the month of June in 2019 and 2023, internet demand  to be met by standard sources has elevated by 26GW throughout nighttime (23:00), whereas it elevated by 10GW through the daytime (13:00). This exhibits that the electrical energy system requires dependable and dispatchable capability on prime of the solar energy enlargement to fulfill demand when photo voltaic is unavailable. This additionally underscores the necessity for peakers sooner or later, which have low utilisation and better per unit (kWh) prices. One such possibility is storage.

Secondly, since photo voltaic era happens primarily through the day, rising within the morning hours, peaking round noon, and lowering afterwards, standard sources should ramp down era when photo voltaic era will increase and ramp up when photo voltaic era begins to lower. The ramp price required to be achieved by standard sources is predicted to extend as photo voltaic era capability grows.

An important query for energy system planners, at each state and central ranges, is on how you can meet demand throughout non-solar nighttime hours within the subsequent decade. This contains addressing the night ramp-up in era wanted to fulfill demand because the solar units and photo voltaic era begins to lower.

If India is unable to successfully deal with the height demand throughout non-solar hours utilizing present thermal and hydro era capability and storage choices, it might doubtlessly lead to peak shortages, significantly throughout non-solar hours. 

This can partly clarify what occurred through the prime two excessive peak demand days that India just lately witnessed. India noticed its highest peak demand day (on the time of writing) on September 1st, 2023, when era capability met 240 GW of demand with a scarcity of 1.6 GW round midday. However, at 22:40 hours, regardless of assembly the night peak demand of round 213 GW, there was a notable scarcity of roughly 7.5 GW. Similarly, on August seventeenth, 2023, India met a peak demand of 234 GW throughout photo voltaic hours with a scarcity of 0.2 GW , however noticed a big peak scarcity of 6.7 GW at 19:24, regardless of the system assembly the night peak demand of round 210 GW. These situations underscore the challenges of photo voltaic era variability and the crucial for added dispatchable capability to successfully handle peak durations.

Such peak shortages can result in widespread power cuts, which might put stress on state and nationwide planners to unexpectedly plan for rising the coal capability which might result in future lock-ins.