Buffering Volatility: A Study on the Limits of Germany’s Energy Revolution

Hans-Werner Sinn
European Economic Review 99, Oktober 2017, S. 130-150 und CESifo Working Paper Nr. 5950, Juni 2016

Abstract
Based on German hourly feed-in and consumption data for electric power, this paper studies the storage and buffering needs resulting from the volatility of wind and solar energy. It shows that joint buffers for wind and solar energy require less storage capacity than would be necessary to buffer wind or solar energy alone. The storage requirement of over 6,000 pumped storage plants, which is 183 times Germany’s current capacity, would nevertheless be huge. Taking the volatility of demand into account would further increase storage needs, and managing demand by way of peak-load pricing would only marginally reduce the storage capacity required. … more

(18.09.2017, Hans-Werner Sinn, http://www.hanswernersinn.de/de/2017_EER_Buffering_Volatility)