wynnum1 wrote:What effect does solar power input back into the network have and when the sun sets this input stops .How is this managed.
Like brendan said, this is an epic question, however, to put it in layman terms... lets say a power station can generate a max of 20 Watts. The area it supplys will generally use a peak of 18W, (I believe peak is usualy between 6 and 10pm) in off peak times the same area uses 10W. However if the houses with solar can supply 4W during the off peak times, the plant only needs to supply 6W of power, thus using less fuel to generate the required power. As the sun goes down the houses with solar produce less and thus the power station is required to produce more to keep up with the demand. A power station can increase and decrease the amount of power it creates, not unlike the go pedal on your car (although much more complex). Using complex calculations, providers can estimate the amount of power they need to generate at a given time, including estimates of demand and solar supply at said point in time. Hope this makes a little bit of sense, considering I have put well over half a bottle of McRum down. :O)
The problem TassieStiller mentions is when the maximum power supply for a particular grid is calculated at say 5W and thus the supply cables are sized to match and now due to so may people having solar, instead od the grid drawing 5W, it creates 7W which overloads the circut.