Germany’s wind turbines run out of steam in summer heat wave

Germany's unusually hot summer has dealt a blow to the country’s wind power output, with the yield in July 2018 being 20 percent lower than in the same month last year, Jürgen Flauger and Kathrin Witsch write in Handelsblatt. While solar power plants went from one output record to the next, only 1,300 megawatts (MW) out of Germany’s total 58,000 MW of wind power capacity were available at times, they report. Stable high-pressure areas above western and central Europe prevented weather changes that cause wind. “The dependence on weather conditions continues to be one of the unsolved problems of renewable energy,” the authors write. Rolf Martin Schmitz, head of energy company RWE, said a “broad energy mix” that includes coal was needed to ensure a stable power supply.

Find the article in German here (paywall).

See the CLEW articles Germany’s power system weathers heat wave despite fossil plant curbs and Renewables overtake coal as Germany’s most important power source for background.