Challenges in integrating largescale renewable energy into urban power systems

Ensuring grid stability and power quality in India's rapidly growing renewable energy sector.

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Renewable energy integration, mainly from solar and wind sources, poses significant challenges in urban areas. While domestic, commercial, and industrial installations present their issues, the most complex problems arise from utilityscale plants in remote locations. Despite thermal generation meeting over 60 percent of demand, renewable sources contribute about 42 percent, or 179 gigawatts, to the energy mix. Integrating these remote renewable plants into the grid introduces several key challenges.

One of the primary concerns is grid stability. Remote areas where these large-scale plants are typically located often have weak grid inertia. Conventional plants naturally provide inertia, but renewable plants, relying on inverters, lack this feature. This deficiency leads to issues during faults, as these systems struggle to maintain stability and often trip, causing significant power losses. In 2022 alone, there were 28 instances of largescale renewable power isolation, resulting in over 1,000 megawatts of power loss.