Curtailment of Solar Power in A&N Grid

20/05/2020

1. ANI ED has curtailed total NTPC 5MW Solar Power output during some days in the month of May
2020 citing grid safety concerns, at the time of grid curtailment, all other DG’s are in operation,
including roof top Solar PV (4MW approx) and 2.5 MW NLC Solar Plant. The Grid is being
managed conventionally by ANI ED staff and there is no principle of scheduling & merit order
system.
2. ANI ED substations do not have any physical isolation system for isolating roof top solar & NLC
2.5 MW, as the NLC plant power evacuation is through LILO in existing transmission line. NTPC
5 MW SPV Plant is connected at ANI ED Substation.
3. The base load of grid is 25 MW & Peak load is around 40 MW during 7 to 9 PM.
4. The south Andaman Grid energy mix is mainly Diesel Power, with some share of solar Power
generation. The combined installed capacity of solar power is 11.5 MW approx & DG is 54 MW
approx ( average capacity of each DG set is 1 MW)
5. Solar Power of 11.5 MW approx is online during day time, when base load is around 25 MW, a
very high share of RE i.e. around 50%.
6. Such high share of RE, without any BESS is causing unstable grid in South Andaman, to add
more worries, existing base load generating stations (DG’s) are not modulating their output to
take care of the intermittency from solar power.
7. In the installed 54 MW DG Capacity, 12 MW are owned by ANI ED and remaining 42 MW DG’s
are privately owned & operated on hiring basis under contact terms ( which includes 15MW of
NVVN also)
8. In the current contract of hiring DG’s, ANI ED issues HSD Fuel to agency to operate DG sets at
defined SFC ( specific fuel consumption) to attain minimum guaranteed generation, further
ANI ED penalize operators for any under performance in minimum guaranteed generation & SFC
and incentivize for additional generation over and above minimum guaranteed generation.
9. To reap maximum gains, privately owned DG’s are operating on fixed set point/ full capacity,
overlooking grid frequency & disabling Auto Governor Mode in DG, by doing this they are able
maintain the defined SFC, minimum guaranteed generation & excess generation for gaining
incentives.
10. This approach of grid operation is causing curtailment of solar power by ANI ED, citing grid safety
during sunny days with moving clouds. Even though the Average cost of DG power is Rs 17/unit
compared to Rs 9.35/ unit tariff of NTPC 5 MW SPV Plant.
11. ANI ED has to amend their existing contracts with privately owned DG’s to accommodate
the existing Solar Power at full capacity during all time. Configuring droop setting of all
DG’s can resolve this issue in short term until installation of BESS.
 South Andaman Grid Freqency Trend
15 Minutes Average Freqeuncy (21.04.2020 to 09.05.2020)

Peak Solar Hours