Solar PV curtailment is the intentional reduction of power output from solar energy systems to the grid, allowing management of voltage to prevent possible unsafe increase in voltage levels, but also limiting the potential for the solar system owner to earn revenue from exporting their excess solar, which can affect different households at different levels.
On average, the reduction in rooftop solar export to the grid due to curtailment is less than 1% but in some areas with low voltage networks, a small number of households are found to recurrently lose up to 20% of their generation, raising concerns of fairness.
These findings are part of a recently released report from the Australian PV Institute (APVI) “Curtailment and Network Voltage Analysis Study (CANVAS)” – a RACE for 2030 Australian technical and social science study conducted by the Collaboration on Energy and Environmental Markets at UNSW, with industry partners AGL, SA Power Networks (SAPN), and Solar Analytics.
The full press release can be found here
This report was partially funded by the APVI with ARENA knowledge sharing funds, but is also a RACE for 2030 project