01-05-2025, 01:37 PM
The whole electricity network is inceasingly not fit for purpose. No only the supply demands being placed on it by electrification of so much of our daily usage, and not only EV charging. The push for induction cooking over gas, heat pumps over other heating systems and ever growing home appliance s (e.g. plasma TVs, communications centres).
From the other direction there is the growing number of household PV installations. The grid infrastructure that they're connected to was designed and built to have electricity introduced from one end and consumed by customers along their length but as those connected are now feeding current into that same infrastructure (essentially back feeding the grid) it places demands on that infrastructure that is was never intended to cope with. That is to a large extent what the current rollout of lines company charge rises.
The genretailers and lines companies now find themselves between a rock and a hard place as solar component prices reduce in price and the economics of distributed generation work in the customers favour. If the grid charges (both per kWh and daily fixed) rise too far it becomes increasingly viable for those with solar generation and battery storage to go off grid and cut tied with the national grid altogether. The immenent introduction of V2G technology where EVs can fill the roll of home supply from their battery will further accelerate the transition towards electricity independence.
From the other direction there is the growing number of household PV installations. The grid infrastructure that they're connected to was designed and built to have electricity introduced from one end and consumed by customers along their length but as those connected are now feeding current into that same infrastructure (essentially back feeding the grid) it places demands on that infrastructure that is was never intended to cope with. That is to a large extent what the current rollout of lines company charge rises.
The genretailers and lines companies now find themselves between a rock and a hard place as solar component prices reduce in price and the economics of distributed generation work in the customers favour. If the grid charges (both per kWh and daily fixed) rise too far it becomes increasingly viable for those with solar generation and battery storage to go off grid and cut tied with the national grid altogether. The immenent introduction of V2G technology where EVs can fill the roll of home supply from their battery will further accelerate the transition towards electricity independence.