> I understand the need for grid stability, but just deciding "Nah, we'll turn off solar production en-masse" seems like it's not the best solution. It's not.

> I understand the need for grid stability, but just deciding "Nah, we'll turn off solar production en-masse" seems like it's not the best solution. It's not. But we've never before had a "we are generating electricity with a marginal cost of $0" situation before. As coal and gas generators had to pay for fuel they stopped generating rather than create an excess. But ... why turn off a solar panel? We've come close with nuclear because it can't turn off quickly enough to match the normal demand cycle. As a consequence Japan has the most pumped storage per unit of generation in the world. They store their excess nuclear generation so they can sell the excess later. That's the best strategy for nuclear because it's so expensive, but in the renewable world its cheaper to over provision than it is to build storage (to some extent), so it's likely there will always be periods of excess. So now we find ourselves in the novel situation of having literally GWh of electricity available for close to free. I can't imagine the situation remaining for that way for long, as we find a use for most concentrated waste streams. Here in Australia we even recycle our sewage solids. I presume that's the one reason for the current "green hydrogen" push in Australia. If green hydrogen doesn't work out, it will be something else like Aluminium or carbon free steel production.