Coal Plants Run At 100% Capacity, Struggle To Keep Lights On
Wintertime wind and solar energy “between 0 and 2 or 3 percent – that is de facto zero,” says German power distribution professor.
Berlin’s power supply severely strained
Germany now finds itself in the dead of winter. Much of the country has seen considerable snowfall, meaning solar panels are often covered by snow and thus rendered useless. Even without snow cover, the weeks-long overcast sky prevents any noteworthy solar power generation.
Moreover, this winter there have been many long windless periods, and so Germany’s approx. 30,000 wind turbines have been largely out of operation. In a world 100% reliant on green energies, this would mean near 100% darkness at home.
Terrible snowstorm hits Germany, Berlin, and Holland
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German RBB (Berlin-Brandenburg) public broadcasting recently aired a report on the region’s winter energy woes titled: “Germany’s green energies strained by winter.”
Coal to the rescue
The report acknowledges that all the power is “currently coming mainly from coal, and the power plants in Lausitz” are now “running at full capacity”.
Physical reality “totally neglected” by policymakers
According to Prof. Harald Schwarz, professor of power distribution at the University of Cottbus:
With this supply of wind and photovoltaic energy, it’s between 0 and 2 or 3 percent – that is de facto zero. You can see it in many diagrams that we have days, weeks, in the year where we have neither wind nor PV. Especially this time for example – there is no wind and PV, and there are often times when the wind is very miniscule. These are things, I must say, that have been physically established and known for centuries, and we’ve simply totally neglected this during the green energies discussion.”
Will have to rely on foreign energy in the future
RBB then warns of the increased odds of blackouts for the region, like the blackout in Berlin in 2019.
Thanks to Paul Doyle for this link and to Milan Masák for the video
The post Berlin On The Brink! Winter Blackouts Loom appeared first on Ice Age Now.
via Ice Age Now
February 10, 2021 at 03:57PM
