German grid blinded by the light

Can you ever have too much clean energy? Germany has discovered that you can. And, unfortunately, it’s not likely to solve that problem until we find better and more cost-effective ways to store energy.

Germany’s current predicament is an unwelcome side-effect of its successful efforts to boost renewable energy supplies. Stimulated by the nation’s generous feed-in tariffs (now being scaled back), which pay a premium for green energy fed back into the electricity grid, photovoltaics have sprouted in wild abundance across the landscape: a record-breaking 3.8 gigawatts’ worth in 2009 alone. By the end of last year, Germany had a total of 9.8 gigawatts of installed photovoltaic capacity — enough to supply about 1 per cent of the country”s electricity needs — and it added another 4.9 gigawatts in the first eight months of this year.

All that capacity means Germany is flush with solar-generated electricity on sunny days … so much so that the ageing grid is having trouble accommodating the supply at peak solar times. The problem stems from having to have other energy sources — coal-fired power plants and nuclear facilities — ready to roll when the sun isn’t shining, and standing prepared to dial those down during solar peaks.

And therein lies the quandary we currently face with renewables like solar and wind power: we can’t control when they’re available, and we don’t currently have adequate means of storing the energy they generate for later use. One solution could lie with more grid-scale energy storage plants such as Beacon Power’s first flywheel facility, set to start running soon in New York. At $69 million per plant, however, the question then becomes, does Germany — and the rest of the world, for that matter — have the appetite for a second round of massive energy infrastructure investment to help justify the first round?