"Britain’s biggest community solar project has been forced to shut for the duration of its first summer by the government’s energy system operator to avoid overloading the local grid with renewable energy.
The north Devon solar farm was ordered to shut weeks before record high temperatures across Europe led to power supply warnings, due to concerns that the large amount of rooftop solar in the area could destabilise the power grid by triggering a “thermal overload”.
The shutdown is expected to cost the cooperative scheme’s nearly 10,000 members about £2m in lost revenue before it is allowed to restart again in September.
In a letter to more than 9,500 people and small business owners who own a stake in the Derril Water solar park, the cooperative’s board said the “unexpected” shutdown order was “enforced on our solar park and other generators in north Devon with no warning”.
The timing of the shutdown at the beginning of its first summer “could not be worse”, according to the board, and would “substantially impact” the scheme’s finances, including payments to members.
It said: “The interruption creates unexpected financial pressure and will impact our ability to pay members at least in the near-term.
“We are not clear on what triggered the shutdown, which came on the Friday before the half-term heatwave with no notice,” the board told the Guardian. “However, it does seem the network operators knew there was a looming problem.”
The National Energy System Operator (Neso) is understood to have ordered National Grid to shut a vital “super grid transformer” over the summer to prevent the rooftop solar in the area from driving the transmission network’s voltage beyond its safety limits.
The surge in rooftop solar power is particularly difficult to manage during the summer when long, sunny days lead to more generation than a local grid might need. Specialist equipment can help to manage potential voltage issues, but these upgrades have not yet taken place in the area near the Derril Water solar park."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/12/solar-farm-forced-to-shut-de...
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