Here in Australia, there is concern that there will be instability of the energy grid, partly due to the degree of roof top solar panel installations causing too much "back feed".
(Australia has one of the highest uptakes of solar-panels in the world.)
There could be a negative consequence in the future to ppl involved, I have heard.
Hence, my Big Brother pic above.
It is another concern we are facing.
So, California, about 5-10 years ago, had this concern, as well. We went for about 15 years where the new residential solar installations, across the US, at least the vast majority of them, did not have battery backup. Frankly, unless you were willing to dedicate the space for a huge lead-acid battery system in your home or in an out building, there was no way to use your stored power during grid outages or when the sun went down in the evening. So, yeah, most of that power fed the grid, caused problems with surplus, and the existing power plants had a difficult time with throttling-down the turbines in the day and throttling-up during the evening. Now-a-days, utility companies are installing huge battery installations that store and release that power in an instant. It pretty much eliminates that whole peak and trough effect. The Hornsdale, Australia Power Reserve is one of many examples.
Hornsdale Power Reserve - Wikipedia Tesla and other companies are creating huge battery installations all over the world.
https://www.tesla.com/megapack
However, since, about 2018, probably a little before, companies around the world began offering lithium-ion storage batteries for residential use. Expensive, yes, but they were of a physical size that took up a lot less space and had the capacity for most home usage at night. It took about 5 years for residential battery installations to become more common, in part, being a result of many utility companies backing away from their net metering programs. They wanted all that power fed to the grid for free and not pay the producers, us. That's basically where we are today. I grandfathered in with my net metering reimbursement, but whomever purchases my home will not. Now-a-days, at least around here, it's sort of expected that if you have a solar array, you have battery storage, because, well, the utility companies can "F" off. Keep your power and don't feed the grid. Use the grid as your backup, not the other way around. I have a 10kWh LG Chem battery, but realistically, I would need somewhere closer to 30-40 kWh of storage with our climate (sunny vs cloudy days).
As far as
"New homes in the US (and probably elsewhere) can also install "smart devices" in pre-existing electrical service panels, or install a "smart" service panel that will not only monitor where all your energy is being used on each individual circuit, but can also selectively shut down specific circuits when not in use at certain times of the day." I think it's important the context and perspective. It's the homeowner, not the utility company that has control of the service panel. Sure, if you don't pay your bill and they want to shut off the service, it's at the meter on the side of the home, not the service panel. If you have solar, wind, and battery storage, perhaps an emergency generator that feeds the battery when it gets low, (even an electric vehicle or truck can be a rolling battery backup if you have the correct inverter) and the system has enough capacity, you can simply run "off grid" like you do when there is a grid outage. My next home will be designed and able to run off grid.
