Solar (and wind) power is great for powering AC in Spain during the summer but sucks for reliably heating homes in Scandinavia in the winter. That's why we in Sweden used to have enough nuclear power combined with hydro to heat the entire country in a co2 clean manner.
Then the greens destroyed the nuclear reactors before their EOL in a collaboration with the social democrats, the "ex" communists, etc.
We still have enough despite the greens worsening it. Sweden was the largest electricity exporter in Europe during the energy crisis, despite its size. Don't exaggerate.
I will say that winds and heating requirements are somewhat correlated, so having some wind production helps balance supply & demand. (Wind will increase convective and conductive heat losses).
Are there any places in Europe where small homeowners get exposure to variably-priced electricity? I.e. is it just large commercial consumers who can take advantage of electricity priced below zero, or small players too?
The UK has one player, Octopus Energy, who offers innovative tariffs.
Their SEG (feed in tariff) rates are also about 3x higher than anyone else offers. You can either go for a flat rate of 15p per kWh, or go on their flex tariff where your import and export rates rise and fall with the wholesale rate (up to the energy price cap of 34p per kWh import).
Because net metering is not a thing in the UK, it also means if you're getting solar it makes more sense to get a battery to cover nighttime usage, or to charge with cheaper off-peak energy, or to export shift to when you'll get more bang for your buck.
In the Netherlands there are several day ahead pricing providers for consumers. Quite popular also, but these days perhaps a bit less for solar panel owners. I also used that until a year ago, because on a sunny day I harvest about 150 kWh from the sun.
I know of one consumer who is on the balance market, and uses real time prices. He however is the exception, balance market is only for large customers. Cost to entry is prohibitive.
Yes there are different energy retailers in different markets offering hourly priced tariffs, Tibber being an example. The deployment of the required smart metering varies widely between countries.
I’m surprised there isn’t more push to move the demand to align better with the solar peak.
In the UK AFAIK there’s only one energy provider trying to have tariffs matching the duck curve, and they complain they’re limited by regulated wholesale prices.
I haven’t seen any appliances supporting variable tariffs or even just having an option to shift more power use to mid day.
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Then the greens destroyed the nuclear reactors before their EOL in a collaboration with the social democrats, the "ex" communists, etc.
Now we're rebuilding that nuclear capacity.
I will say that winds and heating requirements are somewhat correlated, so having some wind production helps balance supply & demand. (Wind will increase convective and conductive heat losses).
Their SEG (feed in tariff) rates are also about 3x higher than anyone else offers. You can either go for a flat rate of 15p per kWh, or go on their flex tariff where your import and export rates rise and fall with the wholesale rate (up to the energy price cap of 34p per kWh import).
Because net metering is not a thing in the UK, it also means if you're getting solar it makes more sense to get a battery to cover nighttime usage, or to charge with cheaper off-peak energy, or to export shift to when you'll get more bang for your buck.
I know of one consumer who is on the balance market, and uses real time prices. He however is the exception, balance market is only for large customers. Cost to entry is prohibitive.
Do they have electricity on Europa (Jupiter's satellite) ? Because here in EU we do not have negative prices. /s
In the UK AFAIK there’s only one energy provider trying to have tariffs matching the duck curve, and they complain they’re limited by regulated wholesale prices.
I haven’t seen any appliances supporting variable tariffs or even just having an option to shift more power use to mid day.