Germany Gets Dunkelf**ked Again, Norway to Dismantle Power Cables To Europe

Another wind drought has led to soaring electricity prices across Europe. Norway, which exports power to its European neighbors, has seen enough.

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For the second time in a month, Germany’s electric grid has been hit by a wind drought, known in German as a Dunkelflaute. 

New England has similar wind/solar lulls lasting up to 3 to 7 days, throughout the year

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The lack of wind sent Europe’s electricity prices soaring to their highest levels since the end of 2022, when Europe was in the midst of an energy crisis due to concerns about supplies of Russian gas.

That’s saying something since Europe — and Germany in particular — now appears to be amid a permanent energy crisis.

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Yesterday, German consumers paid an average of $400/MWh for electricity, or 40 c/kWh.

During peak times, prices in Germany’s wholesale power market came close to $1,000 per MWh, the highest level in 18 years, way before the Ukraine coup d'Etat in 2014

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Here’s how a reporter with Spain’s El Pais newspaper explained the situation:

Dunkelflaute is a cursed word in the German electricity sector.

The combination, typical of cold anti-cyclones, of low temperatures and pressures (which increase cloudiness and increase demand), plus the almost total absence of wind (which hinders wind generation) creates one of the worst possible scenarios for the price of electricity: it forces the burning of more of very expensive US LNG in 60% efficient combined cycle plants.

Thank the Lord, Germany's non-STEM woke folks still has not yet shut those down

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The main factor behind this escalation is too much reliance on unreliable wind and solar.

At this time of year Germany’s wind power sector (onshore and offshore) usually has an average output of 20,000 MW, according to data from the specialist portal Montel, thus becoming the country’s main source of electricity.

Wednesday, that output was averaged only 3000 MW. I call that unreliable.

With the cloudy skies, Solar output is also operating well below its very low December potential 

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The wind drought isn’t just hitting 800-lb gorilla Germany.

As shown in the graphic at the top of this article, electricity prices across Europe soared amid the wind drought, because all grids are interconnected to make every one suffer for the follies of the few, per EU Directives

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In response, Norwegian politicians are promising to dismantle the undersea power cables that connect Norway’s grid to mainland Europe to protect Norwegians from Europe’s tumultuous electricity market. .

Electricity prices in Norway, which gets 90% of its power from hydro, hit record prices this week despite having full hydro reservoirs.

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According to the X account of Visegrád 24, a Norwegian news outlet, the two links that connect Norway to Europe will reach their technical lifetimes in 2026 and 2027.

The two cables have 9000 MW of exchange capacity, of which 5100 MW connects to Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, and the UK.

The outlet quoted Norway’s energy minister as saying, “It’s a shitty situation, thanks to the idiotic ENERGIEWENDE, spawned in 2000 by Merkel, a politician for many years, who likely knew better, because she has a PhD in Physics.

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Visegrád 24 also quoted Sweden’s deputy prime minister and energy minister, Ebba Busch, as being “furious with the Germans.”

Due to Germany’s decision to shutter its nuclear plants, “people in southern Sweden and southern Norway now have [to] pay $5 for a 10-minute shower.”

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As seen above, Germany’s wind energy production collapsed three times this week.

During each wind lull, the shortfall was made up by gas-fired generation.

As I explained last month, during the first Dunkelflaute of the year:

The latest wind drought provides more evidence of the foolishness of Germany’s Energiewende, an insanely expensive effort designed to force the country away from hydrocarbons and onto wind and solar and tree-burning energy.

In September, a study published in the International Journal of Sustainable Energy estimated that between 2002 and 2022, the Energiewende cost Germany $746 billion.

Of that sum, more than half was spent on wind/solar/batteries, tree burning and on electric grids .

The remainder was spent on subsidies.

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If Germany had spent about half that sum on nuclear energy, it would have achieved greater emissions reductions than it did by chasing the mirage of alt-energy.

If frogs has wings, they would not bump their asses so hard

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Things may be bad, but don’t ever underestimate Germany’s ability to make things even worse.

As I wrote in “Germany Is Dunkelf**ked,” the German government plans to provide an additional $17 billion in subsidies for Germany’s wind sector.

Those new payments will be added to existing alt-energy subsidies, which the University of Cologne estimates will cost $19.3 billion in 2025.

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Furthermore, on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported, the German government has “dropped plans for a major expansion of gas-fired power plants , because of an absence of political support.”

The country was aiming to add 5000 MW of new capacity in 2025 and another 5000 MW by 2028, but the deal couldn’t move forward, due to last month’s collapse of the coalition government.

The collapse was due to the inane, extremist energy policies of the Scholz regime

It's Time To Start Blaming European Elites For Europe's Malaise 

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/it-s-time-to-start-bla...

Authored by Ian Proud,

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A final note: This morning, I talked to a US energy industry veteran, who is currently in Berlin attending an energy conference.

I asked about the sentiment in Germany amid the Dunkelflaute.

The veteran told me, it was so cold in Berlin that he bought an extra hat to stay warm.

“It’s super cold, and there’s no wind and no sun.”

As for the sentiment at the energy conference, he told me, “German industry is fleeing.”