Grid Integration
Grid integration of renewable energy, especially wind energy, is a controversial topic–and has been for nearly three decades. Frankly, I think the subject has been beaten to death and for my part the questions answered many times over. Nevertheless, those opposed to renewable energy continually raise the subject in the hopes that this is some silver bullet that will put wind and solar energy in its grave. As a consequence, renewable energy advocates ask me for help to rebut the common myths about wind energy’s “unreliability”. For this reason, I occasionally post articles or reports on the topic of grid integration.
Boell: “Seasonal storage not needed for now”
By
Craig Morris
In line with previous investigations, such as the one by Fraunhofer ISE, the AEE finds that storage across weeks at a time will “not become relevant until renewables make up at least 60 to 80 percent of power consumption.” In contrast, short-term storage (for hours or a day or two) will be needed sooner, but it will partly also pertain to stabilizing the grid.
Boell: How is Germany integrating and balancing renewable energy today?
By
Eric Martinot
The answer is that Germany has so far managed to integrate and balance high shares of renewable energy with very modest changes to its power system. Bigger changes will be necessary in the future, certainly, including new market frameworks that are currently under active discussion. But today, Germany has managed quite well to reach close to a 30% share, for seven main reasons, which are discussed below.
Power Grid Integration and Balancing of Renewables–Cases of Germany, California, Denmark
By
Eric Martinot
Many power grids around the world are already transitioning to high shares of renewables. The cases of Germany, California, and Denmark are among the leading examples. Germany has already reached a 30% share and targets 35% by 2020. California will meet its target of 33% by 2020. Denmark is already at 33% wind power.
Boell: German grid more stable in 2013
By
Craig Morris
In other words, since 2006 we have witnessed a stabilization of Germany’s impressively reliable grid even as some 35 gigawatts of solar and 35 gigawatts of wind were installed on a grid with peak demand of generally around 60-70 gigawatts. Clearly, installing the equivalent of 100 percent of peak demand as wind and solar capacity does not bring down the grid. At the same time, the main correlation with low SAIDI seems to be the amount of underground cabling (as opposed to overhead lines), not the share of renewables, as I explained last year.
Renewables International: The value of wind power – balancing costs
By
Jérôme Guillet and John Evans
This is what feed-in tariffs do, fundamentally, by setting a fixed price for wind production which is high enough to reassure producers on their initial investment, and low enough to provide a hedge against cost increases elsewhere in the system. Indeed, when gas prices were higher such as in 2008, feed-in tariffs in several countries ended up being below the prevailing wholesale price.
Renewables International: The cost of wind
By
Jérôme Guillet and John Evans
That is the point of feed-in tariffs, which provide stable, predictable revenue to wind producers, and ensure that their maximum production is injected into the system at all times, which influences market prices by making supply of more expensive production unnecessary. . . These tariffs make sense for consumers. The higher fixed price (feed-in tariff) is added to the electricity buyers’ bill, but as that bill is lower, thanks to wind input, than it would have otherwise been, the actual net cost of the tariffs is much lower than it appears. . . i.e. an apparent fixed cost imposed on consumers ends up reducing their bills.
