Dunkelflaute

Dunkelflaute (German: [ˈdʊŋkəlˌflaʊtə], lit. 'dark doldrums' or 'dark wind lull',[1] known in meteorological literature as anticyclonic gloom[2]) is a term used in the renewable energy sector to describe a period of time in which little to no energy can be generated with the use of wind and solar power.[3][4][5]

A short dunkelflaute of one day on Tuesday on the right graph.

Meteorology

Dunkelflaute events are fairly common in the North of Europe from October to February (typically 50 to 150 hours per year, a single event usually lasts up to 24 hours). A static high-pressure system causes an extremely weak wind combined with overcast weather with stratus or stratocumulus clouds.[6]

Unlike a typical anticyclone, Dunkelflaute is not associated with clear skies, but has very dense cloud cover (0.7-0.9), consisting of stratus, stratocumulus, and fog. High albedo of low-level (sometimes the cloud base height is just 400 meters) stratocumulus clouds in particular can reduce the solar irradiation by half.[7]

Renewable energy effects

These periods are a big issue in energy infrastructure if a significant amount of electricity is generated by renewables.[8][9] Dunkelflaute can occur simultaneously over a very large region, but is less correlated between geographically distant regions, so multi-national power grid schemes can be helpful.[10] To ensure power during such periods alternative energy sources must be present in a sufficient capacity, energy can be imported and demand can be adjusted.[11]

For alternative energy sources, countries use fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas), hydroelectricity or nuclear power and, less often, energy storage to prevent power outages.[12][13][14][15][16] A group of countries is following on from Mission Innovation to work together to solve the problem in a clean low-carbon way by 2030: including looking into carbon capture and storage and the hydrogen economy as possible parts of the solution.[17]

See also

References
  1. "When the wind goes, gas fills in the gap | Q1 2021 Quarterly Report | Electric Insights". 2021-05-24. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  2. Li et al. 2021, p. 2.
  3. "Dark doldrums: When wind and sun take a break". Retrieved 2021-05-27.
  4. "Investigating the economics of the power sector under high penetration of variable renewable energies". Applied Energy. 267: 113956. 2020-06-01. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.113956. ISSN 0306-2619.
  5. "Climatology of dark doldrums in Japan". Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 155: 111927. 2021-12-08. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2021.111927.
  6. Li et al. 2021, p. 6.
  7. Li et al. 2021, p. 7.
  8. "What happens with German renewables in the dead of winter?". Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  9. "When the wind goes, gas fills in the gap". Retrieved 2021-06-06.
  10. Li et al. 2021, p. 9.
  11. Modelling 2050: Electricity System Analysis (PDF) (Report). Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. Kosowski, Kai; Diercks, Frank (2021). "Quo Vadis, Grid Stability?" (PDF). atw. 66 (2): 16–26. ISSN 1431-5254.
  13. Ernst, Damien. "Big infrastructures for fighting climate change" (PDF). Université de Liège.
  14. Diermann, Ralph. "Energie: Wie riskant sind Dunkelflauten von Wind- und Solarenergie?". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-04-22.
  15. Li, Bowen; Basu, Sukanta; Watson, Simon J.; Russchenberg, Herman W. J. (2020). "Mesoscale modeling of a "Dunkelflaute" event". Wind Energy. 24 (1): 5–23. doi:10.1002/we.2554. ISSN 1095-4244.
  16. Abbott, Malcolm; Cohen, Bruce (2020). "Issues associated with the possible contribution of battery energy storage in ensuring a stable electricity system". The Electricity Journal. 33 (6): 106771. doi:10.1016/j.tej.2020.106771. ISSN 1040-6190.
  17. "Major project aims to clear clean energy hurdle". BBC News. 2021-06-02. Retrieved 2021-06-03.

Sources
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.