Distributed vs centralized has no impact here. It's all about excess power across the entire grid.
Sure, the solar system I own generates a few kilowatts and if I'm home cooking or running AC, I use almost all of it. But if I'm not home, my AC is off, fridge isn't running at that moment, all of that power gets dumped onto the grid. My neighbor's down the street do the same thing, their next door neighbor, the houses all in my neighborhood, and across the entire city, we're all doing this. A hundred or thousand homes generating excess few kilowatts adds up to megawatts
Sure, the energy company pays a pittance for the energy I put onto the grid, but it's still payment. I'm not gonna put a dummy load on my house to not export power