You're torn between grid upgrades and renewable energy integration. How can you strike a balance?

Focus on the grid reality by assessing the current infrastructure's capacity and limitations. Determine the necessary upgrades to support increased renewable energy input without compromising grid stability. Prioritize upgrades that enhance grid flexibility and resilience while integrating renewable sources efficiently. Develop a phased approach that aligns with both short-term needs and long-term goals to ensure a smooth transition and effective energy management.

The challenges that renewables bring to the electrical grid are a subset of the overall challenges we face to expand our grid and ensure its resilience. The amount that utilities need to spend over the next ten years is astounding: from transmission lines to transformers to the simple task of pruning the trees whose growth is made more abundant by the increase in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Renewables contribute additional stress because of their intermittency and because of the ride-through challenges associated with inverters. The grid optimization opportunities that exist with micro-grids and smart grids, together with such models as community solar, present challenges for a rate of return model on existing infrastructure.

Grid upgradation and smart technologies are expensive and time-consuming activities together with know-how expertise. With conventional Grids, one can design Renewable up to 90% of Substation capacity but also consider conductor capacity along with existing loads. Unless Smart Grids come up, we should be more calculative. Again Renewable are highly variable. So we may consider solar, wind with and storage. Overall cost of renewable is going down.

Work with the grid, not against it. By creating a system that can easily adapt and follow the grid, you also have the opportunity to generate additional revenue streams. Consider other energy carriers besides electricity and earn money by helping to stabilize the grid

The inherent overbuild required by intermittent resources and batteries is staggering from a cost point of view. Batteries are not currently affordable enough, nor are the materials available at scale to build them in the required numbers using existing technology. That has to change. The possibilities of natural hydrogen are emerging. The availability of CCS technologies to match with fossil fuel emitting resources is promising - and is not, as some might say, “giving in” to the fossil fuel forces. An all of the above solution is required to deliver all the energy, renewable sources included, that an increasing demand for electricity is demanding. Many of the objections to all energy resources are answerable if properly measured.

Renewable along with storage will ultimately govern. Storages are now designed more safe from fire accidents. But still quality should not be compromised. The ratio of each together with fossil fuel will depend on "Energy security".. Storage technology is improving and also costs going down. So far renewable costs have decreased significantly, but one of the reasons may be due to overproduction. COP28 has given priority to increasing renewable three times. But when we speak of capacity we should consider megawatt hour produced instead of megawatts installed. Battery storage is moving fast. We have a Grid-tied storage system. Also, the peak hour enhanced tariff encourages storage from renewable and delivery during higher tariff period.

A location-based grid optimisation, upgrade, expansion model is needed - based on the demand to be derived from an ambitious, 1.5C-aligned renewable energy target. Then it is a matter of determining a realistic hierarchy of deploying different solutions, depending on the pace of the solution to come into life. The pace is driven by costs, policies, spatial needs (do-no-harm to biodiversity and people - factor in environmental permitting requirements at the beginning), consultation needs (community buy-in) and, most importantly, the political will of local and national actors (decision makers/governments, TSOs, DSOs, RE developers).

Renewable integration has many challenges. But Smart technology is the answer. But before that, develop expertise to know Smart Grids, AMI, cyber security etc. There were many failures in adapting Smart Technologies due to a lack of knowledge on the subject (can be easily cheated by Vendors or Suppliers providing obsolete technologies or else). It is costly but when life cycle cost and global warming are considered, it is cheaper. But Cyber security should be considered otherwise major failures may occur.

Energy modeling is crucial for balancing grid upgrades with renewable energy integration. It involves using computer simulations to predict energy demand, generation, and distribution patterns. By analyzing various scenarios, energy modeling helps utilities and policymakers make informed decisions about where to invest in grid infrastructure and renewable energy projects. It allows for the assessment of the impacts of integrating different types of renewable energy sources, identifying potential bottlenecks, and planning for energy storage needs. Effective energy modeling supports a more efficient, reliable, and sustainable energy system, enabling a smoother transition to a renewable energy future.

We need to stop advancing targets that are not feasible. It does no good. Natural gas plants are touted as complementary to renewables to smooth the intermittency, but we must realize what that means. When a combined cycle plant is kept ticking over to be brought online quickly at the end of the solar production curve, the speed of dispatch has to be met from the gas part because the steam part takes longer to ramp. This sacrifices efficiency and increases the carbon footprint. Batteries can be used to smooth the ramp, and they have a valid role here. This is the kind of integration thinking we need more of to ensure we are optimizing our grid's resource deployment.

A country whether goes after fossil fuel or adopts renewables mainly depends on Government involvement. They formulate positive policies, reduce taxes, and give other incentives. A country not in favor of renewable often implements taxes on renewable imports or gives a subsidy to fossil fuel-based electricity in the name of national economy. The Government and Regulators can encourage Renewable by encouraging Roof-Top Solar selling their excess electricity from renewable through Net-metering, thereby becoming Prosumers. A positive policy push is required to encourage renewables.

The policy side of the energy grid is a complete mess. It is shocking to see how this is managed. There is an inherent conflict between the investments needed to ensure the grid's reliability at vulnerable times and the fact that such investments abate extreme price movements, which could provide utilities with an economic justification for making those investments. Shortages and panic create pricing spikes that benefit energy providers. Investments in the inventory of backup fuels such as oil at natural gas plants have a cost that will not be recouped if their intended effect - abating panic and moderating prices - is achieved. This dynamic is not one that obviously lends itself to competition. FERC order 1000 has not helped.

If a country wants to support renewable, imposing a Carbon tax on fossil fuel-based energy generation together with minimizing subsidies on it will make Renewable more competitive with fossil fuels in its life-time.

Capital allocation is very important. Proper measurement of costs and returns is important. The current metrics applied to renewables do not capture their full impact on the grid. Consider the day ahead bidding for generation supply and the impact that unpredicted wind in real-time can have on that process. The wind must be dispatched because it will likely bid at zero/kWh. Wind will, therefore, displace the carbon resource committed and paid for the previous day. The committed and displaced resource will refund its contracted payment at the real-time, lower price rather than the bid price, thus pocketing a profit. It may need this profit to pay any penalty on the fuel supply it needs to cancel. However, it is a hidden cost of wind.