Germany’s wind farms are now producing so much electricity they are paying users to take it [View all]

Germany Pays to Halt Danish Wind Power to Protect Own Output

Bloomberg Business

Germany pays to idle Danish wind farms to ease grid congestion

Danish power producers pulled 37 gigawatt-hours in November

Germany’s wind farms are now producing so much electricity one of its grid managers is paying generators in neighboring Denmark to shut down to keep its network from overloading.



German network operator TenneT TSO GmbH paid Danish power producers to withhold 37 gigawatt-hours of output in November, or about a day of production from the region’s biggest nuclear reactor, according to data from the Nord Pool Spot AS exchange in Oslo. The increase from 1.5 gigawatt-hours a year ago came as TenneT began from 2015 to boost payments to Danish producers via its neighboring grid to avoid cutting German output.

When gusty weather floods the network with power and threatens stability, Germany can seek cuts, according to grid rules. If such reductions are still not enough, Germany will then start shutting its own turbines. The country’s shift to renewables has more than doubled its wind power over the past decade, with output reaching a record on Nov. 18. Investment in power lines to move it across the country has failed to keep up...snip

...This comes as Germany saw negative prices in the market for hours on at least 10 days during the last month in high winds, forcing producers to pay as much as 116.99 euros per megawatt-hour to users to take electricity. Danish electricity output had to be reduced by 237 gigawatt-hours so far this year, a 25-fold increase year on year...snip
MORE: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-01/german-wind-power-surplus-spurs-cash-for-neighbor-to-switch-off

How to store this renewable electricity that producers are paying people to take? H2 is better than batteries.