New article gathers the evidence to address the sceptics
What happens when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow?
Won't renewables destabilise the grid and cause blackouts?
In a review paper last year in the high-ranking journal Renewable
and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Master of Science Benjamin Heard and
colleagues presented their case against 100% renewable electricity systems.
They doubted the feasibility of many of the recent scenarios for high shares of renewable energy, questioning everything from whether renewables-based systems can survive extreme weather events with low sun and low wind, to the ability to keep the grid stable with so much variable generation.
They doubted the feasibility of many of the recent scenarios for high shares of renewable energy, questioning everything from whether renewables-based systems can survive extreme weather events with low sun and low wind, to the ability to keep the grid stable with so much variable generation.
Now scientists have hit back with their response to the points
raised by Heard and colleagues. The researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of
Technology, the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research,
Lappeenranta University of Technology, Delft University of Technology and Aalborg
University have analysed hundreds of studies from across the scientific
literature to answer each of the apparent issues.
They demonstrate that there are no roadblocks on the way to a 100% renewable future.
They demonstrate that there are no roadblocks on the way to a 100% renewable future.
"While several of the issues raised by the Heard paper are important, you have to realise that there are technical solutions to all the points they raised, using today's technology," says the lead author of the response, Dr. Tom Brown of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
"Furthermore, these solutions are absolutely affordable,
especially given the sinking costs of wind and solar power," says
Professor Christian Breyer of Lappeenranta University of Technology, who
co-authored the response.
Brown cites the worst-case solution of hydrogen or synthetic gas
produced with renewable electricity for times when imports, hydroelectricity,
batteries, and other storage fail to bridge the gap during low wind and solar
periods during the winter.
For maintaining stability there is a series of technical solutions, from rotating grid stabilisers to newer electronics-based solutions. The scientists have collected examples of best practice by grid operators from across the world, from Denmark to Tasmania.
For maintaining stability there is a series of technical solutions, from rotating grid stabilisers to newer electronics-based solutions. The scientists have collected examples of best practice by grid operators from across the world, from Denmark to Tasmania.
Furthermore, these solutions are absolutely affordable, especially
given the sinking costs of wind and solar power.
The response by the scientists has now appeared in the same
journal as the original article by Heard and colleagues.
"There are some persistent myths that 100% renewable
systems are not possible," says Professor Brian Vad Mathiesen of Aalborg
University, who is a co-author of the response.
"Our contribution deals with these myths one-by-one, using
all the latest research. Now let's get back to the business of modelling
low-cost scenarios to eliminate fossil fuels from our energy system, so we can
tackle the climate and health challenges they pose."
