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I think the problem with storing energy in western Europe, is that you need most energy for heating in winter, when there is hardly any solar power. So any conv
by phicoh 5y ago
I think the problem with storing energy in western Europe, is that you need most energy for heating in winter, when there is hardly any solar power. So any convenient daily pattern doesn't work. For wind, you can probably heat up during the night assuming there is less other demand for electricity.
However, that doesn't help during period when there is hardly any wind. It is not as if you can stop heating your house for a couple of weeks.
I'm curious have this will play out. On a bright summer day, there is plenty of solar power. So it make sense to do everything during the day. During winter, it is better to distribute the load and move load to the night. That requires quite a bit of signaling to get right.
- silon42 5y agoCentral Europe here.. had pretty much a month or two (several weeks consecutive) of clouds/fog last winter -> no solar or wind.
- ourlordcaffeine 5y agoThere is absolutely less load during the night. Also wind is the main renewable in western europe, not solar. Having no wind for weeks basically doesn't happen, at least in the north sea.
- phicoh 5y agoSo you propose to power all of Germany from the North Sea area? In theory it's possible, the North Sea is big enough. But transport costs maybe become an issue.
- lambdadmitry 5y agoExcept it does. https://www.wsj.com/articles/energy-prices-in-europe-hit-records-after-wind-stops-blowing-11631528258 https://www.wsj.com/articles/energy-prices-in-europe-hit-rec...
- ourlordcaffeine 5y agoWhilst the UK did indeed have 5 days with less than 2GW wind (not weeks with 0 like you claim), the situation is not as simple as news outlets and agenda-pushers would have you believe. A bunch of other plants (including nuclear) going offline was a major contributing factor.