Solar power is supposed to be

the ideal renewable source of energy in this state. Oh yes, we have some wind turbines as well but solar panels can be fitted to many roof tops. It is fitted to about thirty-five percent of roof tops in fact. All this is supposed to be a good thing.
This morning's paper now tells us that the power generated by all those solar panels might need to be switched off sometimes - because it contributes to an instability in the power supply. That instability can cause a power failure.
There might be people reading this who will remember that we had a major black-out in this state in 2016. It was some days before power was fully restored. It cost the state millions of dollars. Since then the "big battery" has been supplied but that does not solve the problem either. 
I thought back to our time in "the bush" - remote areas of our state. My parents lived in a galvanised iron house on the top of a hill when I was born. It was the only available accommodation in the small rural town. They were waiting for the then "Housing Trust" to finish the accommodation for government workers down in the township itself.  There was a windmill which supplied a sort of intermittent  power.  It made a lot of noise. Perhaps that is why I now like quiet.
Down in the township there was 240v power. We went from there to the city and then back to the rural areas of the state. We had no power at all at one stage. My mother cooked on a wood burning Metters stove and we had kerosene/paraffin lamps for lighting. Eventually they supplied a  32v power system that the Senior Cat had to set running to keep the batteries charged. It was not reliable the lights would suddenly go dim even when we did our best to conserve the power so that my parents could prepare lessons at the kitchen table. We made the most of the daylight hours.
My mother used heavy irons she heated on the stove and a treadle sewing machine. The Senior Cat chopped wood every morning - wood we children had collected in the surrounding bush along with a load of "mallee roots" dropped off by one of the farmers.
We moved around, sometimes having 240v power and sometimes 32v power. One school ran on a massive diesel engine.  If that failed there were 600 plus students and the staff without power.
We coped with all of this.  There was no internet then. If there had been and we had been relying on it and the other power dependent things we now take for granted life would have been a great deal more difficult. 
If our power supply is not stable because of renewable energy sources then I wonder how people will cope now? 
And there is one thing that many city dwellers who do not know what it is like to be without power at night have never had the pleasure of seeing properly - the stars at night. Perhaps we were fortunate.