Germany likely to pay consumers to utilise electricity this weekend

Germany’s power producers may be compelled to pay the citizens to use electricity this weekend as the country’s power producers increase production while it has been forecast that power reserve may exceed demand.

Broker data compiled by Bloomberg predicts that the country’s energy reserve may jump to a record high on Sunday which is likely to create more output than needed and push electricity tariffs below zero.

Reports say this would be the first time this year that the average price for a whole day is negative.

The country’s grid operators would have to struggle to keep the balance between how much energy is consumed and installed power capacity, when there are high amounts of wind generation.

As it stands now, the only option left for Germany’s power producers is to either shut down power stations to reduce supply or pay consumers to use the power.

Statistics suggest that wind power output is forecast rise up to 39,190 megawatts at 7 a.m. on Sunday, which is equivalent to the output of about 40 nuclear reactors.

That alone, according to analysts is enough to meet more than half of Germany’s total energy demand.

According to bloomberg.com, onshore wind turbines alone accounted for almost a third of Germany’s installed power capacity at the end of June and the nation is poised to increase new installations by 9 percent this year, according to industry federation BWE.

The website reports that, wind power currently supplies about 10 percent of Europe’s electricity and is expected to continue to grow as the technology becomes cheaper.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance has predicted that the cost of electricity from offshore wind farms, once one of the most expensive forms of green energy, is expected to slide by 71 percent over the next two decades.

Reports say Germany handed out contracts to renewable energy power developers willing to build offshore farms without subsidy.

The development made German wind generation scale up to 38,370 megawatts on March 18.

Germany likely to pay consumers to utilise electricity this weekend

Germany’s power producers may be compelled to pay the citizens to use electricity this weekend as the country’s power producers increase production while it has been forecast that power reserve may exceed demand.

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