Germany Breaks Record: 85% of Energy Comes From Renewables Last Weekend

[kristopher]

Germany Breaks Record: 85% of Energy Comes From Renewables Last Weekend

Germany's "Energiewende"—the country's low-carbon energy revolution—turned another successful corner last weekend when renewable energy sources nearly stamped out coal and nuclear.

Thanks to a particularly breezy and sunny Sunday, renewables such as wind and solar, along with some biomass and hydropower, peaked at a record 85 percent, or 55.2 gigawatts, and even came along with negative prices for several hours at the electricity exchange.

Conversely, coal use was at an all-time minimum. According to DW, on April 30, coal-fired power stations were only operational between 3 and 4 p.m. and produced less than eight gigawatts of energy, well below the maximum output of about 50 gigawatts.


"Most of Germany's coal-fired power stations were not even operating on Sunday, April 30th," Patrick Graichen of Agora Energiewende told RenewEconomy. "Nuclear power sources, which are planned to be completely phased out by 2022, were also severely reduced."...

http://www.ecowatch.com/germany-renewable-energy-record-2392212868.html

[Blues Heron]

1. Pro nukes aren't going to like this! nt

[FBaggins]

4. So... how much energy was produced by non-renewables over the holiday weekend?

Just so we can put the "record" into context.

[kristopher]

5. That isn't putting the ""record" into context"

It's an attempt to distract from a data point on a trend line. Why? Are you that threatened by good news on progress in our decarbonization effort?

I can't count the number of times the long-known-to-be-false claim has been made that there is an upper limit on how much variable energy the grid can accept. Well, we now know that Germany's system can successfully operate at 85% variable renewables for a period of time worth noting. They still have a way to go, but I think the adoption curve is arcing upwards ever more steeply.
It's act of evolutionary transition that isn't going to be reversed or stopped. It might be tamped down just a bit by the losers blocking the door as they leave the field; but mankind has fundamentally changed, in a very positive manner, the way we exist.

[FBaggins]

6. Sure it is

The "context" is that the author of the piece dishonestly attempts to leave the reader with the impression that 85% of the energy produced last weekend came from renewables (and that 85% is a record). Neither implication is true (they hit almost 100% about a year ago).

So before asking why someone else is "threatened"... why not ask yourself what other than feeling threatened makes it so hard for you to answer a simple question?

[NickB79]

7. I had to look up your "almost 100% renewables a year ago" claim

And by damn, you were right:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-16/germany-just-got-almost-all-of-its-power-from-renewable-energy

Apparently they do have some concerns going forward, however:

Merkel’s unprecedented shift to clean energy has squeezed margins at coal and gas plants while driving up costs for consumers in Europe’s biggest power market. The increased flows of clean energy have also put pressure on the grid to the point that the country is considering excluding certain regions from future onshore wind power auctions if local grids are already struggling to keep up with large volumes of renewable energy supplies.

“If Germany was an island, with no export cables, this would be technically impossible because you always need to have some thermal generation running as a back up supply for when the wind or solar drops off,” Depraetere said.

“Germany consumed 100 percent renewable energy yesterday, but we’re unlikely to see clean energy supply 100 percent of generation anytime soon,” he said.

[FBaggins]

8. Of course I was right. :)

The reason that it was a record this past weekend (if it was - I haven't checked) was likely because that 100% was for a lower-demand moment (45GW). This particular record was 85% of a much higher (though still artificially low) 65 GW demand.

Apparently they do have some concerns going forward, however:

As they should. Negative market pricing indicates serious problems.

[kristopher]

9. The author of the piece dishonestly attempts nothing

You accuse others of what you do.

The article:

Thanks to a particularly breezy and sunny Sunday, renewables such as wind and solar, along with some biomass and hydropower, peaked at a record 85 percent, or 55.2 gigawatts, and even came along with negative prices for several hours at the electricity exchange.

Your characterization:

the author of the piece dishonestly attempts to leave the reader with the impression that 85% of the energy produced last weekend came from renewables

As to whether it is a record or not, I don't know or particularly care. Innumerable assertions of limits on the amount of renewables a grid can handle made by antirenewable nuclear boosters on this forum were demonstrated to be false.

[FBaggins]

10. So you missed the title of the piece that you posted?

Nowhere in the article does it correctly state that it was for a couple hours on a holiday weekend with low demand (they regularly top 80GWs). It falsely leaves the reader with the impression that Germany is close to meeting their electricity generation needs with renewables alone... when little could be further from the truth.

As to whether it is a record or not, I don't know or particularly care.

That's a shame... since it's the only part of the story with any value.

Innumerable assertions of limits on the amount of renewables a grid can handle made by antirenewable nuclear boosters on this forum were demonstrated to be false.

That's either dead wrong or an awful strawman... possibly both.You can't provide evidence (let alone proof) that a grid can handle more than a given percentage of renewables so long as you retain baseload generation capacity in excess of peak demand. You could easily get much larger percentages of total generation from renewables if you're stupid enough to pay for duplicate infrastructure that sits idle while the variable renewables do their thing.

[kristopher]

11. I'm not going to argue this with you Baggy.

Your bullshit is just that - nuclear cheerleader bullshit. The trajectory is set and your disinformation is irrelevant; wind and solar have arrived and nuclear is on its way out with its twin, coal.

[FBaggins]

13. It's amazing how often you mis-type "Can't"...

... as "I'm not going to"

See Post #12 for examples.

Hey... you know what I just realized? My power was knocked out for a couple hours in a storm a few nights back. Since we were sleeping at the time, our entire electricity usage was the solar path lighting out on the front walk.

It's time for me to send out a press release!

"FBaggins breaks record: 100% of energy comes from renewables last week!"

[lunasun]

2. The US could do so much but instead wants to bring back coal

[Throck]

3. I look at every empty roof top and think wasted space.

Go solar.

[FBaggins]

12. For those mistakenly assuming that the title provides an accurate picture...

Let's look instead at reality. The corrected title should read "85% of electricity generation came from renewables for a couple hours last weekend"

What's left out? The fact that the weekend included both the peak on 4/30 at mid-day... but also included less than a day earlier when solar and wind combined for (wait for it)... less than 1.7GW while gas/coal/nuclear combined for just under 20 times as much.

Aside - So the very same weekend that supposedly proved that variable renewables could reliably supply baseload demand if the turbines were spread out over large areas onshore and offshore... still couldn't demonstrate anything close to that on the (reportedly) best weekend that they've ever had. There was a 20-fold variation to deal with in a single 24-hour period.

and even came along with negative prices for several hours at the electricity exchange.

As though that were a good thing? It's actually a sign of a serious market failure. At that same point when they were hitting the record (and prices were negative)... they were paying Austria, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic to take 13 GWs off of their hands. This while they were also paying many mandated prices to the people generating the excess power that they couldn't even give away within Germany.

According to DW, on April 30, coal-fired power stations were only operational between 3 and 4 p.m. - and produced less than eight gigawatts of energy

This is simply false. Just a smidge under 8GW was actually the minimum (a couple hours after the peak renewables generation). At no time were they all shut down (let alone offline except between 3-4pm). That same variable renewables minimum coincided with 24 GWs of coal generation.

Nuclear power sources...were also severely reduced

Of course... the problem with that is that you don't save any money by curtailing a nuclear plant for a day (not exactly "severely reduced" if two of the three days that weekend had the plants running at full power - but that's picking nits). The plant staff can't go home... there's essentially zero fuel savings or operational savings. The only reason to cut production is because they would have to pay someone else to take the power.

Graichen added that days like Sunday would be "completely normal" by 2030

https://www.energy-charts.de/power.htm?source=all-sources&week=17&year=2017

[kristopher]

14. The poor little feller...

His beloved coal/nuclear empire is crumbling and he just can't handle the idea that all his promotional work for all these years is coming to naught.

Steve Holliday, CEO (UK) National Grid: “The idea of large power stations for baseload is outdated”

September 11, 2015 by Karel Beckman

Steve Holliday, CEO of National Grid, the company that operates the gas and power transmission networks in the UK and in the northeastern US, believes the idea of large coal-fired or nuclear power stations to be used for baseload power is “outdated”. “From a consumer’s point of view, the solar on the rooftop is going to be the baseload. Centralised power stations will be increasingly used to provide peak demand”, he says, in an exclusive interview for World Energy Focus, a publication of the World Energy Council produced by Energy Post. The chief of National Grid also notes that energy markets “are clearly moving towards much more distributed production and towards microgrids”.

“This industry is going through a tremendous transformation. We used to have a pretty good idea of what future needs would be. We would build assets that would last decades and that would be sure to cover those needs. That world has ended. Our strategy is now centred around agility and flexibility, based on our inability to predict or prescribe what our customers are going to want.”

As CEO, since 2007, of a company active on two continents, and being responsible for both gas and electricity transmission and distribution, Steve Holiday finds himself smack at the centre of the whirlwind developments in the energy sector. And since National Grid is a regulated (albeit publicly listed) company, he can speak from a reasonably independent position. Which makes it fascinating to talk to him.

“What is crucial”, says Holliday, “is what consumers will want. In the past all consumers got the same. One size fits all. Now one size will not fit all. People will want to interact with energy in many different ways.” This is why he warns against people who think they can predict the future. “Some people think they have the answer, whatever it may be. But I believe there will be different answers for different places, rural and cities, and for different customers. That’s why flexibility and agility are key.”

Nevertheless certain trends that are currently taking place are unmistakable, says Holliday. “The world is clearly moving towards much more distributed electricity production and towards microgrids. The pace of that development is uncertain. That depends on political decisions, regulatory incentives, consumer preferences, technological developments. But the direction is clear.”

...

http://energypost.eu/interview-steve-holliday-ceo-national-grid-idea-large-power-stations-baseload-power-outdated/

[FBaggins]

15. Says the guy who has been shilling for offshore wind in the US for decades?

Are we up to four turbines connected to the grid now... or five?

Like I said... "can't" - which now goes right along with his existing inability to see a hair's breadth of difference between coal and nuclear power and therefore assumes that anyone who supports one must support the other... and his decades-long habit of reading tea leaves to always say that nuclear power globally was going to die out any second.

His beloved coal/nuclear empire is crumbling

Still with that tenuous grip on reality, eh?

Steve Holliday, CEO

I know I teased with the "can't"... but I thought you had outgrown the spam phase.

Come on "little feller"... you can do it. At least admit that the author was lying about all the coal plants being shut down except between 3-4pm. One small step.