Renewables covered more than 90% of German electricity demand on Easter Monday and brought the price down to -83 € / MWh

The conditions for the generation of renewable energy were very good on Easter Monday, thanks to the sunlight throughout Germany and the light breeze in many parts of the country.

24/04/2019

Periodicodelaenergia.com

The think tank German Agora Energiewende revealed that solar and wind power almost completely covered energy demand of the country for several hours. At noon, the power supplied by solar energy was 33 GW, while the onshore wind turbines contributed 12.5 GW. In addition, some 11 GW came from biomass, offshore wind energy and hydroelectric power. This combined capacity of approximately 56 GW covered almost all of the country’s energy consumption needs, which stood at just over 61 GW, according to the pvmagazine energy portal .

The operators of conventional power plants reacted by adjusting the production. At noon, nuclear power plants supplied 3.8 GW of capacity, while lignite power plants delivered 4.7 GW. Coal-fired power plants withdrew almost completely from the market, contributing only 1.8 GW. Gas power plants, on the other hand, provided 6.7 GW of capacity.

With these data, the price of electricity in the German wholesale market obtained a negative average, something unusual. The average price was -14 € / MWh. But thanks to solar since the nuclear company preferred not to shut down, the price plummeted to -83 € / MWh at 2:00 pm, something never seen.

The high proportion of renewable energy in total energy generation ensured that the CO2 emission factor of the energy mix between 11 am and 4 pm will fluctuate between 160 and 170 grams per kilowatt hour. That corresponds to approximately one third of the annual average.

On Tuesday, renewable energy also accounted for most of the generation of electricity for many hours. According to Agora Energiewende, on-shore wind turbines delivered around 26 GW at 1 pm, while photovoltaics accounted for 27.5 GW. The total generation of renewable energies reached 66.4 GW. However, due to the workday, the consumption of almost 80 GW was significantly higher than on Easter Monday.