The excess of renewables in Germany
Sometimes it is not always good when you are the first to reach the goal and more, it does propose an action plan that must be executed in a short time but that allows the complexity of the electrical networks to play a trick on us. We are talking about Germany and the current problems it has with renewables.
But first we must understand the "rush" that Germany has brought about in a few years in the renewables sector, mainly based on its strategic energy plan The German Energuiewende.
Comparison with EU countries
So we go to the graphs with the data for wind and solar energy, considering that they are the most important. Compared with the countries of the European Union from IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency) statistics:
The evolution of renewables in Germany
Now we have to see the evolution in the different years. To be able to compare, and to have an overview, we also add Spain.
Looking at the graph of Germany, we can see that from approximately 2009 to 2014 the capacity to produce renewable energy has doubled, and that we do not count 2015 and part of 2016.
We could comment that Germany is the perfect example to follow as a pattern to ensure a greener future from an electrical perspective, but it has had a small or quite big problem depending on who looks at it (We remember the article Germany myths and reality). To begin to understand what is happening we could put a simple simile; It is as if we ate a lot at a meal, come on, a full-fledged binge … What happens to us in the afternoon? That literally our stomach is collapsed, because in Germany it is the electrical network that does not give for more and has consequences that we must know.
What happens when we have an excess of renewables
That is to say, what happens when we have an excess of electricity produced by the different renewable sources, having relevant data that play an important role;electricity cannot accumulate. Within the complexity of understanding a priori what is happening in Germany, we must indicate two ways to "get rid" of the excess electricity …
We sell it to neighboring countries
First, we have to bear in mind that due to the high volume of electricity to be transported outside the German country, a "super-grid" or electrical infrastructure is also needed that can handle such volume and that Germany does not currently have.
Second, that neighboring countries want to buy the excess electricity. The excess cheap energy produced by German wind farms and coal-fired power plants is often exported to neighboring countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic or Austria, where they are wreaking havoc on local grids preventing them from building their own. sustainable electrical systems.
In the words of the Austrian Minister of the Environment …“Germany produces too much cheap energy, which countries like Austria and later have to absorb. With current energy prices, investment in hydropower or wind power without the support of the state is no longer competitive.
We shut down our power plants
If we look at one of the biggest milestones in Germany this year in the energy sector, it was in the middle of May where, thanks to a sunny and windy day, at one point, solar, wind, hydro and power plants of biomass supplied the country around 55 GW, while the country consumes in its entirety around 63 GW, that is, 87% of the energy consumed in the country was via renewable sources. Although many jumped for joy! … Many others suffered a lot when they saw that the price of electricity for a few hours was negative, but … Why?
Although gas power plants were taken off the grid, nuclear and coal plants cannot be shut down as quickly, so in some cases the State has to pay renewable energy companies to turn off their turbines in order to stop and decongest the electricity grid. (More information about this milestone HERE)
Although the previous case was one-off and energy demand has grown by 3% this last year, aftershocks are occurring with less intensity but more commonly.
In reality, it is not so easy to disconnect the nuclear and coal plants because we have from some contracts that we must fulfill until they are lucrative and therefore politically difficult to shut down, without taking into account that Germany will shortly open its latest new power plant. Coal.
Some experts have concluded that Germany's strategic approach at the time has been a mistake, when in fact it should … "To meet the current challenge, old coal and some nuclear plants should be shut down, the grid extended faster or more invested in innovative methods to use excess energy to heat homes" (More information here)
Of course we have to take note of both the errors and the benefits! And it is evident, in case someone has not noticed, that the fault that the German electricity grid is saturated is not the renewables, it is an initial strategic error where there has been poor planning when dealing with the closure of the power plants. coal and nuclear power plants.
Some articles of interest:
- Winding solar panel
- The collapse of renewables in Europe
- Large companies pass energy audits
- Understand renewables with images
- Renewables with numbers
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