Germany's power grid ready for renewable energy transition

According to Boris Schacht, president of one of Germany’s four national power transmission operators, the country’s grid is already capable of receiving 70-80% of its energy consumption from renewable sources without any improvements. In an interview with Der Tagesspiegel, the president of 50Hertz Transmission GmbH said that the company is currently preparing to receive 40-50% of its energy from renewable sources. The company has been testing this capability for the past year and is now “confidently moving” toward a 70-80% renewable energy share. Moreover, according to Schacht, this will not require any additional work to modernize the power grid.





As confirmation, Schacht spoke about a solar eclipse that could be observed in Germany in March 2015. In the afternoon, when the eclipse ended, there was a sharp jump in the production of solar energy – in 45 minutes, solar power plants in Germany generated about 14,000 MW. The company doubted that the grid would be able to handle this amount of energy, but as a result, the power system showed greater flexibility and no disruptions occurred.

Unpreparedness of power grids can really become a serious obstacle in the transition to clean energy. In China, for example, because of increased wind and solar energy, the percentage of electricity loss has increased by about 19% over the past two years. In 2016, about one-fifth of all electricity generated wasted, and in some regions of China, this amount reached half.





In Germany, the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research and the German Association of Energy and Water Industries estimate that about 32 percent of all electricity consumed comes from renewable sources. By 2050, the country plans to completely switch to clean energy. published

P.S. And remember, just changing our consumption – together we change the world!

Source: hightech.fm/2017/02/02/german-renewables