In the new ITA Dossier "Solar Power Grid Integration", Ornetzeder, energy expert at the Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA) at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, explains: ‘We are currently experiencing a massive expansion of decentralised photovoltaic systems. For consumers, this means that some of their electricity is generated in the immediate vicinity and does not have to be delivered. On the other hand, new measures are now needed to store the electricity from these local systems and integrate it into regional power grids.’

Photo-voltaic (PV) systems are currently spreading so quickly that our conventional electricity grid cannot keep up. ‘That's why many people are turning to PV batteries to store their electricity.’ However, this has a number of disadvantages and the batteries are not exactly environmentally friendly, emphasises Ornetzeder, who, together with his ITA colleagues Steffen Bettin and Titus Udrea, has compared various options for PV grid integration.

Ornetzeder explains what still needs to be done to make solar power from small power plants more usable in the new ITA Dosser No. 75, ‘Solar Power Grid Integration’ (Download PDF, 2 pages).