Spinning reserve

All pow­er sys­tems need extra capac­i­ty online to cov­er both nor­mal vari­a­tions and unex­pect­ed events. In pow­er sys­tems with high pen­e­tra­tions of solar ener­gy, like Alice Springs, the impact of peri­od­ic cloud cov­er on solar gen­er­a­tion also needs to be con­sid­ered to ensure pow­er sup­ply is not affect­ed. One of the pri­ma­ry mech­a­nisms used to man­age all of these fac­tors is ​‘spin­ning reserve’.

Quick facts

• Greater solar pen­e­tra­tion needs to be prop­er­ly sup­port­ed. Bat­ter­ies will play an impor­tant role in reduc­ing the spin­ning reserve require­ments at gas-fired pow­er stations.
• Solar fore­cast­ing can help man­age spin­ning reserve. By pre­dict­ing cloud cov­er, it is pos­si­ble to opti­mise the amount of spin­ning reserve. 

Overview

All pow­er sys­tems need extra capac­i­ty online to cov­er both nor­mal vari­a­tions and unex­pect­ed events. In pow­er sys­tems with high pen­e­tra­tions of solar ener­gy, like Alice Springs, the impact of peri­od­ic cloud cov­er on solar gen­er­a­tion also needs to be con­sid­ered to ensure pow­er sup­ply is not affect­ed. One of the pri­ma­ry mech­a­nisms used to man­age all of these fac­tors is ​‘spin­ning reserve’.