A new model developed by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory could help keep the lights on even when hurricanes darken the skies, according to Tech Xplore.
This breakthrough enables better predictions of how much solar energy output drops during tropical storms, empowering utilities to compensate for those dips.
When storm clouds block the sun, solar panels can lose a significant portion of their electricity generation, as Solar Alliance has detailed. For hurricane-prone regions shifting to renewable energy like the Caribbean islands, that’s a big problem. Power disruptions disproportionately impact underserved island residents who can’t easily evacuate.
The researchers explored linking island electric grids with undersea cables to form “super grids.” Sharing solar energy across a broad network could maintain steadier power flow when parts of the grid are shaded by storms.
After running simulations, the…
