In the South West of England, Western Power Distribution are now engaging in a positive way with community groups, to address the capacity issues in constrained areas, where the amount of PV is already so high that the cost of reinforcement for new installations can be prohibitive.
Nigel Turvey of WPD gave an excellent presentation in St Austell yesterday. There is now more PV in the pipeline for installation than the system can cope with. Much of this is speculative commercial project planning that may never go ahead, so there is some hope, if communities co-operate and work with WPD to get the best solutions.
Merlin Hyman of Regen SW has now set up a community membership category, specifically to address this issue.
The problems arise when local generation and consumption are grossly out of line - so the longer term solution is partly time-of-use shifting, as I have long advocated. If we all do our bit, preferably without waiting to be financially rewarded, then the situation will be substantially eased.
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