Controlling volatility of wind-solar power

TL;DR

This paper proposes that with surplus wind-solar capacity, smart meters, and improved technology, Germany could meet all its current energy needs solely from renewable sources, reducing storage requirements significantly.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Germany can achieve complete energy independence from wind-solar power alone by using surplus capacity, smart meters, and advanced technology, challenging previous assumptions.

Findings

All current German energy needs can be met by wind-solar power alone.

Storage capacity requirements can be significantly reduced with surplus capacity and smart technology.

Renewable energy can be expanded to cover transportation and heating needs.

Abstract

The main advantage of wind and solar power plants is the power production free of CO2. Their main disadvantage is the volatility of the generated power. According to the estimates of H.-W. Sinn[1], suppressing this volatility requires pumped-storage plants with a huge capacity, several orders of magnitude larger than the present available capacity in Germany[2]. Sinn concluded that wind-solar power can be used only together with conventional power plants as backups. However, based on German power data[3] of 2019 we show that the required storage capacity can significantly be reduced, provided i) a surplus of wind-solar power plants is supplied, ii) smart meters are installed, iii) partly a different kind of wind turbines and solar panels are used in Germany. Our calculations suggest that all the electric energy, presently produced in Germany, can be obtained from wind-solar power alone. And our results let us predict that wind-solar power can be used to produce in addition the energy for transportation, warm water, space heating and in part for process heating, meaning an increase of the present electric energy production by a factor of about 5[1]. Of course, to put such a prediction on firm ground the present calculations have to be confirmed for a period of many years. And it should be kept in mind, that in any case a huge number of wind turbines and solar panels is required.