'Curtailment': new trend to avoid costs on surplus power solar panels.
Back to all blogsInjecting surplus power into the grid can incur significant costs at a time when power prices are low or negative. This makes companies increasingly turn to "curtailment," a software solution linked to their PV installation. With this, the installation can be controlled so that when prices are negative, the production of solar power is limited to purely self-consumption. The price formulas in the energy contract determine whether curtailment is appropriate and from what price level production can best be limited.
Low and even negative prices are currently the order of the day, which means that injecting surplus power can come at a significant additional cost. In this context, a new trend is emerging among companies: the use of curtailment, a software that temporarily curtails the generation of green power, such as solar power. Curtailment software controls the PV plant's inverters to reduce production and thus can avoid producing surplus solar power at a time when prices are negative.
So companies are going to inject less surplus, which means less volume going through the injection contract and less power being "sold. In most new injection contracts, curtailment is useful because they reimburse injection to the grid based on hourly prices. The injection formula determines the price level from which curtailment should be activated.
Specifically, what does this mean?
Curtailment is rapidly gaining ground since it involves a relatively limited investment and the software is deployable for the majority of companies. But it is important to put the solution in perspective. For example, in the current period of low and negative prices, curtailment can certainly bring some relief and save costs. However, it is doubtful that this will still be the case next summer. This is because in the next few years, 2 nuclear reactors will be shut down during the summer period, which means that a large part of the power needs will have to be met by other means. The likelihood that frequent negative prices will then occur is therefore significantly reduced.
There is also, of course, the sustainability standpoint. The installation of solar panels obviously has the goal of producing green power, but at certain times its production is now slowed down or the installation turned off. Actually, surplus power is then considered as waste and useful energy is lost - which of course defeats the purpose of generating green power.
Rather, Odot recommends that companies bet on:
⚡A detailed analysis of energy consumption: so that the production of the PV plant can be adjusted accordingly.
⚡Batteries: to store any excess power, but they are a hefty investment that not every company can recoup.
⚡Energy sharing: you can share surplus power with other branches of your company or even with other companies. With energy sharing, though, you have to consider a few snags: it's only possible within Flanders, you need digital meters that measure consumption at the quarter-hour level, and some suppliers make energy sharing so expensive that it's no longer profitable.
⚡Scheduledconsumption: try to be smart about the times of consumption that can be flexibly scheduled, such as charging the electric vehicles in the company's parking lot.
