As electricity prices rise, more consumers are moving towards rooftop solar to reduce their electricity bills, which has resulted in an increase of net metering connections.

While the surge in net-metering connections empowers consumers, it poses a new challenge to Pakistan’s traditional electricity distribution network, which was designed to deliver electricity in one direction- from the grid to the user.

The current tariff package for net-metering offers an attractive payback period of 2-4 years for 5-25 kilowatt (kW) solar PV installations. The simple economics has resulted in entire neighbourhoods shifting towards rooftop solar. What this means for the utility is that individuals that were simple consumers have now become “prosumers”, i.e., individuals that produce and consume electricity.

The issue starts when the “prosumers” start producing more electricity and stop consuming electricity from the grid. The traditional electricity grid has a uni-directional power flow; electricity is produced by the power plants transported via the transmission network, gets connected to the local grid and then flows through the distribution network to reach the end consumers.

When prosumers start producing more electricity it results in a “reverse power flow”. Unlike household appliances that can simply be switched off when not needed, the national grid has no off switch. When prosumers stop consuming and begin exporting excess solar........

© Business Recorder