FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Rapidly growing solar and wind power across Germany and the European Union must be matched by more battery storage to capture weather-induced generation peaks and avoid more fossil fuel burning, energy think tank Ember said on Thursday.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
The roll-out of carbon-free electricity plants has gathered pace, underscored by the drying up of westbound Russian energy exports since war in Ukraine.
More renewables bring temporary spurts of unwanted, or sudden lack of, supply, which cannot be fully matched with demand in the absence of enough transport grid and storage capacity.
Zero and negative prices have consequently become more common in intraday wholesale trading hours, with spreads caused by fluctuating feed-in of green power.
The lack of synchronisation means that taxpayers not only pay for green power production subsidies. They also cough up for curtailments and emergency procurement, which gets increasingly hard to defend.
CONTEXT
Policymakers hope that batteries, which can earn revenues from price arbitrage, will offer enough economic reward to attract sufficient investment.
There are signs from investors that the business case is being recognised.
BY THE NUMBERS
Germany could have avoided up to 2.5 million euros ($2.78 million) in natural gas imports in June alone if it had had 2 gigawatts (GW) more additional battery storage, said Ember after calculating a simulation.
The Berlin government, with Green Party participation, strongly supports green power in Europe’s biggest economy.
Germany commands 1.8 GW of grid batteries and is looking to add 3.7 GW over the next three years.
KEY QUOTES
Beatrice Petrovich, senior analyst: “More battery storage can help Germany take advantage of abundant home-grown solar to replace expensive fossil fuels.
“We haven’t seen the same ambitious strategies from the EU that are in place for renewables…for battery storage and other clean flexibility solutions.”
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(Reporting by Vera Eckert, editing by Alexandra Hudson)