“What Europe can do in times of North Sea doldrums”

With more cooperation on energy infrastructure, European states could counter the risks associated with fluctuating supply of wind power, Ralph Diermann writes on Spiegel Online. According to a study in Nature Climate Change, variable weather conditions cause Europe’s wind power generation to fluctuate by around 22 gigawatts (GW) on average. That figure could climb to 100 GW by 2030 as capacity expands. Most of Europe’s offshore wind turbines are in the North Sea but researchers say distributing them over a larger area could substantially lower the risk of interruption, Diermann writes. This would require increased grid connections across the continent. Volker Quaschning of university TH Berlin says more PV installations could also help balance wind power. “Wind and solar power installations almost never run at full capacity simultaneously,” he argues.

Read the article in German here.

For background, read the CLEW factsheet How can Germany keep the lights on in a renewable energy future?