{"id":744,"date":"2015-02-25T18:44:59","date_gmt":"2015-02-25T18:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reuniwatt.com\/en\/?p=744"},"modified":"2025-07-01T18:02:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T16:02:15","slug":"20th-march-solar-eclipse-real-challenge-electric-grids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reuniwatt.com\/en\/industry-news\/20th-march-solar-eclipse-real-challenge-electric-grids\/","title":{"rendered":"20th March solar eclipse: a real challenge for the electric grids?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1144px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:0px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\" style=\"--awb-text-transform:none;\"><h4><strong>The transmission system operators\u2019 challenge <\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 20<sup>th<\/sup> March solar eclipse and its consequences on the European electric grids are on every lips. Indeed, the share of renewable energies has much progressed since the last similar phenomenon which took place in the summer of 1999. Back then, the solar installations were not so much widespread, and the energy production associated with them was too insignificant to unbalance the grid. Today, however, things have greatly evolved. In Europe, photovoltaics (PV) now cover 3% of the electricity demand and 6% of the peak electricity demand according to EPIA\u2019s (European Photovoltaic Industry Association) \u201cGlobal Market Output\u201d report.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the 20<sup>th<\/sup> March 2015, in the space of two hours, 35,000 MW of solar energy \u2013 the equivalent of 80 medium size conventional generation units \u2013 will progressively disappear from the European electric grid, before being gradually reinserted into it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The ENTSOE (European network of transmission system operators \u2013 TSOs \u2013 for electricity) describes this event as an unprecedented challenge for TSOs. To the extent that a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/reuniwatt.com\/en\/resources\/\">Solar Eclipse Impact Analysis<\/a><\/strong> has been carried out and published one month before the eclipse, on the 19<sup>th<\/sup> February. Even though the different TSOs and electrical systems won\u2019t be affected in the same way depending on their location, it is crucial that a coordination be put in place. It is the best way to answer the sudden electricity demand that will take place during the eclipse.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>An anticipated phenomenon<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Admittedly, March\u2019s solar eclipse presents a hitherto unseen challenge, but it mostly consists in an anticipated phenomenon for which the TSOs have been preparing for several months, if not years. The PV production\u2019s variation will therefore be handled without trouble.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As for the daily production drops due to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/reuniwatt.com\/en\/resources\/\">solar energy\u2019s intermittent nature<\/a><\/strong>, their impact is naturally lesser, but the meteorological hazards make them more difficult to predict. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/reuniwatt.com\/en\/resources\/\">Soleka<\/a><\/strong>, Reuniwatt\u2019s decision making tool, has been especially developed to supply solar power production forecasts. Soleka is intended in particular for transmission system operators. Using Soleka enables them to more efficiently manage solar power production\u2019s variations on a daily basis. Taking into account the swelling number of PV installations across Europe, this consists in a more recurrent and increasing challenge than the solar eclipse to come.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>To go further<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>An <strong>FAQ<\/strong> on the impacts of the solar eclipse on the electrical system is available on the ENTSOE\u2019s website.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[53,50,52,51],"class_list":["post-744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-entsoe","tag-solar-eclipse","tag-transmission-system-operators","tag-tsos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reuniwatt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reuniwatt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reuniwatt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reuniwatt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reuniwatt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/reuniwatt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11421,"href":"https:\/\/reuniwatt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744\/revisions\/11421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reuniwatt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reuniwatt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reuniwatt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reuniwatt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}