High Penetration Renewables: The Weather is Our Fuel
It is becoming very important to pay great attention to the *detail* of how the wind & solar resource will change over the course of a given day in order to appropriately manage the balance of supply and demand
Author: Dr. Nick Engerer
Solar Forecasting Under Complicated Cloud Cover Conditions
There were quite complicated cloud cover conditions over South Australia yesterday, where solar energy penetrations are amongst the highest in the world
Author: Dr. Nick Engerer
Solar Energy is an Exponential Technology
Solar is an exponential technology. What this means, is that its price performance is falling on an exponential curve and its growth globally is growing upwards in the same fashion.
Author: Dr. Nick Engerer
Behind-the-Meter Solar PV Forecasting in West Australia
Behind the meter solar PV power forecasting is an essential tool for accurate supply and demand balance for grid operators. And with rooftop PV installations in Western Australia growing quickly, load forecasting is becoming increasingly difficult for our partner Western Power.
Author: James Luffman
Forecasting Collective Solar PV Ramping Events
When a few hundreds of megawatts of solar generation undergoes a negative ramp event, the energy markets see a sudden jump in the regional demand and local distribution networks will see changes in network loads/voltages in their control rooms. This leads to challenges managing our electricity markets and networks in areas where large amounts of solar are installed.
Author: Dr. Nick Engerer
Low Rooftop Solar PV Power Outputs in South Australia
This example highlights the important of having quality solar forecasting data for rooftop solar sites included in the load forecasting models for areas with high penetrations of rooftop solar.
Author: James Luffman
Seeing Solar Intermittency as Opportunity
But I want to challenge you to change your mindset, and change the game. Let's view intermittency as the opportunity it really is. Technology can solve the intermittency "problem" and the companies that do so will create value. The obstacle is the way.
Author: Dr. Nick Engerer
Solar Forecasting for Energy Storage and Electricity Networks
My Solar and Storage 2017 talk entitled "Solar forecasting support for Australia energy networks & markets via the Solcast API" will cover our experience working with 11 Aussie distribution networks and our vision for providing them solutions to solar intermittency.
Author: Dr. Nick Engerer
The important role of solar forecasting in Australia
With such high penetrations of small-scale solar present across Australia and several new large solar farms in the pipeline, Solcast believes that solar forecasting technology will be important for maintaining predictability and stability in our power system.
Author: Dr. Nick Engerer
Solar Forecasting Accuracy Transparency
In my role as CEO of Solcast, I've been directing my team to think more like the customer, and as a result, Solcast has been working to make the accuracy of its solar power forecasting highly visible. We are now storing our 1-hour ahead forecasts for everywhere in the world, and making them available to our customers & users in real time.
Author: James Luffman