India's grid gets ready to deal with 'too much' green energy risk

As unprecedented amount of RE flows in, grid managers devise ways to prevent supply disruptions

With significant addition of renewable energy (RE) capacity over the past two decades, the grid is now devising ways to handle “too much RE”. RE sources — which include solar, wind, small hydro, and others — are intermittent in nature, and their sudden spikes and drops can cause massive grid disruptions, including outages. 

To address this, arms of the Union Ministry of Power — Grid Controller of India (Grid-India), the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) — are drafting various plans to schedule, forecast, and manage RE efficiently, while keeping thermal power as the base