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Germany's Weak Winds Trigger a Record Surge in Gas Fired Power.
Germany's Weak Winds Trigger a Record Surge in Gas Fired Power.By Gavin Maguire
December 4, 20247:00 AM ESTUpdated 4 days ago
LITTLETON, Colorado, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Gas-fired electricity production in Germany jumped by a record 79% in November from the month before as utilities scrambled to offset a second straight month of sharply below-normal output from wind farms.
Wind power output has been 25% below year-prior levels in October and November due to slow wind speeds, depriving power firms of a key electricity source just as winter set in. Wind farms supplied 27% of German utility electricity in 2023.
To plug the resulting generation gap, utilities lifted gas-fired electricity production from 5.34 terawatt hours (TWh) in October to 9.55 TWh in November, data from energy think tank Ember shows.
That was the largest ever monthly rise in German gas-fired generation, and was accompanied by a jump in coal-fired production to 20-month highs as utilities also had to offset a drop in solar generation to the lowest level this year...
...with solar generation set to fall further during the dead of winter, power firms may not be able to cut back on fossil-fuel output until well into 2025.,,
...A 'Dunkelflaute' or 'dark wind lull' is a period of low wind speeds that greatly curtail wind farm generation.
And Germany's main wind farm areas have suffered from an extended lull since October, which is when wind generation largely held flat at around 10 TWh instead of climbing steadily on the usually brisk autumn winds.
The October wind generation total was the lowest for that month since 2016, and was a full 26% below the generation total during the same month in 2023...
Wind power output has been 25% below year-prior levels in October and November due to slow wind speeds, depriving power firms of a key electricity source just as winter set in. Wind farms supplied 27% of German utility electricity in 2023.
To plug the resulting generation gap, utilities lifted gas-fired electricity production from 5.34 terawatt hours (TWh) in October to 9.55 TWh in November, data from energy think tank Ember shows.
That was the largest ever monthly rise in German gas-fired generation, and was accompanied by a jump in coal-fired production to 20-month highs as utilities also had to offset a drop in solar generation to the lowest level this year...
...with solar generation set to fall further during the dead of winter, power firms may not be able to cut back on fossil-fuel output until well into 2025.,,
...A 'Dunkelflaute' or 'dark wind lull' is a period of low wind speeds that greatly curtail wind farm generation.
And Germany's main wind farm areas have suffered from an extended lull since October, which is when wind generation largely held flat at around 10 TWh instead of climbing steadily on the usually brisk autumn winds.
The October wind generation total was the lowest for that month since 2016, and was a full 26% below the generation total during the same month in 2023...
I added the bold.
It's really too bad that Germany didn't have a pile of "puuuurrrrrfeeeecttt batteries" as high as Zugspitze to tide them over, but well, it's not like they give a shit in Germany about burning coal and gas and dumping the waste directly into the planetary atmosphere.
They couldn't care less.
Don't worry, be happy. After sending all that money to Putin to fund his war machine, Germany has chosen to deindustrialize.
The last article refers to a problem with so called "green energy." Burning coal and gas and dumping the waste into the atmosphere doesn't strike me as particularly "green," but maybe I'm missing something.
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