On the expansion of renewable energies in Germany and the problems related to fluctuation in the German electricity grid

On the expansion of renewable energies in Germany and the problems related to fluctuation in the German electricity grid | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article On the expansion of renewable energies in Germany and the problems related to fluctuation in the German electricity grid Sönke Gößling, Florian Dennewitz This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7094284/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The expansion of renewables energies in Germany especially in the solar and wind sector are key factors for the transformation to net zero carbon emissions. Both sources have significant seasonal fluctuations in production. Even if the technologies complement each other in the sense that solar makes a greater contribution in summer and wind is represented in winter, these contributions are not guaranteed; there may be a poor supply or even a so called "Dunkelflaute" , a period with very low wind and solar energy production. However, it is precisely these periods of poor wind and solar coverage that prevent conventional power plants from being shut down, as they have to fill the gap. In order to raise awareness of the mentioned problems, a further expansion of wind and solar power plants is simulated based on the data of 2023 and the need for storage technologies is calculated to solve imbalances. The calculations are not designed to accurately reflect the energy supply in future years. Instead the aim is to provide the fundamental relationships between production and consumption of carbon neutral/green energy. The calculations show that the expansion of wind and solar power plants alone will not lead to a stable electricity supply and that storage technologies will play an important role in the future. In summer, there is energy that must be frequently stored and retrieved within short cycles (24 hours). However, there is also a substantial energy surplus during the summer months that needs to be shifted to periods of low production in autumn and winter, requiring storage over timescales of weeks to several months. Therefore, the paper analyzes scenarios involving both battery and hydrogen storage. It becomes evident that both technologies contribute in distinct and complementary ways: batteries are well suited for high-frequency, short-term storage with limited capacity needs, while hydrogen plays a crucial role in storing large amounts of energy over extended periods. Future work will include a more detailed analysis of regional differences and financial aspects, aiming to refine and optimize the proposed storage scenarios. renewable grid storage battery hydrogen Germany Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7094284","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":494338102,"identity":"189fa01d-5c5f-4900-98b4-bc5ac52d10e3","order_by":0,"name":"Sönke Gößling","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"University of Applied Sciences and Arts Dortmund","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sönke","middleName":"","lastName":"Gößling","suffix":""},{"id":494338103,"identity":"c8755052-315b-4b08-919c-a02151c45c2c","order_by":1,"name":"Florian Dennewitz","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Energy System Solutions","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Florian","middleName":"","lastName":"Dennewitz","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-07-10 14:53:32","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7094284/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7094284/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":97370399,"identity":"55194fb4-affb-4c82-901f-9769761cbb38","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-03 16:27:17","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":7037312,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ExpensionRenEnergiesUpload2.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7094284/v1_covered_681a1735-d546-421c-a2ca-98a966720c0a.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"On the expansion of renewable energies in Germany and the problems related to fluctuation in the German electricity grid","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"renewable, grid, storage, battery, hydrogen, Germany","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7094284/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7094284/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe expansion of renewables energies in Germany especially in the solar and wind sector are key factors for the transformation to net zero carbon emissions. Both sources have significant seasonal fluctuations in production. Even if the technologies complement each other in the sense that solar makes a greater contribution in summer and wind is represented in winter, these contributions are not guaranteed; there may be a poor supply or even a so called \"Dunkelflaute\" , a period with very low wind and solar energy production. However, it is precisely these periods of poor wind and solar coverage that prevent conventional power plants from being shut down, as they have to fill the gap.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn order to raise awareness of the mentioned problems, a further expansion of wind and solar power plants is simulated based on the data of 2023 and the need for storage technologies is calculated to solve imbalances. The calculations are not designed to accurately reflect the energy supply in future years. Instead the aim is to provide the fundamental relationships between production and consumption of carbon neutral/green energy.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe calculations show that the expansion of wind and solar power plants alone will not lead to a stable electricity supply and that storage technologies will play an important role in the future. In summer, there is energy that must be frequently stored and retrieved within short cycles (24 hours). However, there is also a substantial energy surplus during the summer months that needs to be shifted to periods of low production in autumn and winter, requiring storage over timescales of weeks to several months. Therefore, the paper analyzes scenarios involving both battery and hydrogen storage. 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