This year, as much electricity has now been produced in NL with solar panels as with wind turbines. A unique situation. Together, solar and wind account for almost 1/3 of the electricity consumption in the Netherlands this year.
Wind and solar are to a significant extent complementary, which reduces the need for storage.
YouTube text:
Featuring guest David Osmond and his Twitter-famous highly renewable Australian electricity grid simulation. See the latest update here:
[twitter.com] – David Osmond
As a rule of thumb, the electricity share within total primary energy is 20% and remarkable constant. The figure applies to the Netherlands, but won’t be that much different for other European nations. It also shows the enormous task ahead of decarbonizing the economy.
The sad news is that in the light of recent geopolitical developments, combined with weak European leadership, that blindly follows the US and its imperial adventures, and lets itself being separated from Russia and its fossil fuel reserves, a smooth energy transition becomes ever less likely and that an enormous decline in wealth is to be expected for Europeans, most tangible in receding automobility, decaying industrial activities and cold homes in the winter. One can be really concerned about the political stability within the EU, especially in the country hardest hit: Germany.
[focus.de] – Ohne Putins Gas droht der deutschen Industrie der Kollaps
[aa.com.tr] – Putin relays to Schroeder feasibility of activating Nord Stream 2 pipeline
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline could be activated if necessary, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitriy Peskov confirmed Wednesday.
This is exactly what needs to happen. We need to distance ourselves from the US and strike a deal with Russia and China. Europe must accept the split of Ukraine in a Russian and EU-part. We must either leave NATO or at least tell the US to remove its bases from European soil and tell them that the “US-led West” (US empire) is over. 440 million European don’t need “protection”, delivered by 330 million Americans against 140 million Russians. The opportunity to defect from the US will arise at the very moment China and US clash over Taiwan and fight for planetary pole position. The EU must merge with Russia and become the world’s #1 superpower.
Next year possibly at 50%, thanks to Hollandse Kust Zuid.
Note that in 2022, renewable electricity consumption is the same as total (non-renewable) electricity production in 1970, when we were already happy, so to speak.
In 2021, total Dutch electricity consumption was about 120 TWh
Note this is the price at the source. You as a consumer pay much much more, either now or soon, when your current contract period expires. Note the vast differences with previous years. No economy can expect to conduct business as usual with prices like these. Better prepare for a vast reduction in your standard of living. Most likely scapegoat: holidays abroad by plane/car and eventually private car ownership.
Considerable relief could offer the EU striking a deal with Russia and collectively leaving NATO. A good moment could be a crushing US defeat at the hands of China in East-Asia over Taiwan. Not ready for that? We’ll talk again after the coming winter. This is happening in Germany already during the warm Summer, scenes we have seen in East-Germany since 2015, now also in West-Germany:
Perhaps you finally pick up that phone and buy those solar panels? With prices like this, the payback time is ca. 2-3 years.
[next-kraftwerke.be] – How does Day-Ahead Trading of Electricity work?
Excellent figures for solar PV in the first half of 2022:
=> market share: 14% (NL power demand)
=> market value €1.4 billion (day ahead)
=> natural gas savings: 1.8 billion m3
=> 3.2 Mton less CO2
…electricity prices turn negative if the production is larger than consumption, like today, Saturday, weekend, in the Netherlands.
The graph indicates for the past 4 years how many hours in that year, electricity prices were zero or negative.
DeepResource 