Abstract
The main advantage of wind-solar power is the electric power production free of CO2. Its main disadvantage is the huge volatility of the system [national electric energy consumption powered by wind-solar power]. In fact, if this power production, averaged over one year, corresponds to the averaged electric consumption and is intended to replace all other electric power generating devices, then controlling the volatility of this system by using storage alone requires huge capacities of about 30TWh, capacities not available in Germany. However, based on German power data over the last six years (2015 till 2020) we show that the required storage capacity is decisively reduced, provided i) a surplus of wind-solar power is supplied, ii) smart meters are installed, iii) a different kind of wind turbines and solar panels is partially used, iv) a novel function describing this volatile system, is introduced. The new function, in turn, depends on three characteristic numbers, which means, that the volatility of this system is characterized by those numbers. When applying our schemes the results suggest that all the present electric energy in Germany can be obtained from controlled wind-solar power. And our results indicate that controlled wind-solar power can produce the energy for transportation, warm water, space heating and in part for process heating, requirering an increase of the electric energy production by a factor of 5. Then, however, a huge number of wind turbines and solar panels is required changing the appearance of German landscapes fundamentally.
Concentrated solar power in the future of electricity generation: a synthesis of reasons