2023-06-02 06:01:00
The sunny and windy weather at the beginning of this week helped set a new record for renewable electricity production in our country. Between 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. Monday, the combined power of wind turbines and photovoltaic panels reached a peak of 8.3 GW, according to data from Elia, the grid operator. A sufficient level to cover all of the country’s usual electricity consumption on a public holiday, which is 8 GW.
We therefore produced more electricity than we consumed. A situation that will tend to repeat itself given the ever-increasing number of wind and photovoltaic farms. At first glance, this is good news. Except, you know if you have solar panels, excess power can be a problem. “We had to make sure there was less production“, told us Jean Fassiaux, Elia’s spokesperson. In this case, last Monday:
- He failed shut down some wind farms to lower production
- It was necessary to request and pay large industrial customers so that they increase their consumption and absorb part of this current
- A significant part was also exported to neighboring countries
The main reason: our network is not suitable! Whether at the level of your neighborhood filled with solar panels, or at the level of Belgium, the excess energy is difficult to absorb. In fact, we are not not yet able to store this electricity to restore it when we need it. The batteries that can allow it only absorb a maximum of one hundredth of the surplus currently (it should evolve, but this storage has a very high cost).
And the money in there?
“Trading with neighbors costs nothing, and it can even earn us money if they need it.“, explains Pierre Henneaux, lecturer at the École Polytechnique in Brussels. Last Monday, however, “certain producers, in particular those who did not anticipate these surpluses (they could have cut production, editor’s note), had to sell their electricity at a loss (especially to flexible industries)the price has become negativeSo they paid these industries to increase their consumption.
According to experts, this kind of phenomenon proves that the diversity of energies (wind, photovoltaic and nuclear) is a priority. “In the future, we must bring more flexibility to consumption“, continues Elia. “We must ensure that citizens consume when there is a lot of electricity available, and do not consume when there is little“.
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