Germany's Renewable Energy Peak on Sunday Shows the Need for Storage in the Energy Mix

Last Sunday Germany had produced so much energy that the grid had to pay consumers to use more electricity. The above graph shows the renewable energy peak contributing to 87% of the energy produced in Germany on May 8th and how this affects the price of electricity.

Due to the rigidity of the grid system there is no way to use up this excess energy and customers cannot react in time. Solar and Wind power both have peaks and troughs throughout the day and this does not always match up with the load profile of the population.

Integrating storage at different levels of a country's power network can reduce this problem and can be very advantages for those who have storage themselves. At a national or commercial level buffer storage can be used to quench excess power coming from the grid.

At a residential level having an Alpha Storage System installed in your house could also take full advantage of this price change while reducing strain on the national grid. The flexibility of distributed is it's real advantage for countries undergoing the green energy revolution such as Germany.

The German government is aware of the challenges faced when overhauling the power network. The financing offered to German residents for Alpha Systems is testament to the value placed on flexible networks and how ordinary citizens are playing a role in the energy revolution.