“Germany risks falling into the power gap”

The growing reliance of Germany’s power system on renewable energy sources means the country will have to increase efforts to find viable long-term power storage solutions, Stefan Schultz writes on Spiegel Online. The German government has no sound concept of how to counter the threat posed by so-called “Dunkelflaute” - periods with very little sun and wind that usually occur in winter, Schultz says. Instead, it merely ponders importing more electricity from abroad in times of need. But Greenpeace Energy says this won’t work because “Dunkelflaute” usually happens in many European countries at once. Germany’s planned nuclear exit and contemplated coal exit were going to reduce conventional power fall-back options, making progress in expanding hydropower storage and power-to-gas technologies more important, Schultz writes.

Read the article in German here.

See the CLEW factsheet How can Germany keep the lights on in a renewable energy future? for background.