Windfarms and fields of solar panels will still be keeping the lights on in Europe in 2100, even if the聽worst case聽global warming scenarios come to pass. That is the conclusion of researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark who combined existing climate models with one of a simplified European electricity system to see whether wind and solar will cope with a hotter world.
Under all the聽,聽wind and solar power generation will fall slightly.聽Climate change is expected to result in聽more cloud cover in聽northern Europe, reducing energy from solar panels, as well as bringing more storms, which cause wind turbines to switch off automatically for protection.
But the Danish team says the fall in generation will聽be largely balanced out by energy demand聽falling as temperatures rise, since more electricity is used in Europe for heating than cooling.聽Electricity grid managers should pay more attention to聽swings in the weather unrelated to climate change, like a low wind year, which will cause聽bigger聽reductions in power output.
Advertisement
Jim Watson, a professor of energy policy at University College London, who wasn鈥檛 involved in the study, says聽it shows the impact of climate change on聽renewable energy would be modest. 鈥淭he聽conclusion provides some confidence about the resilience of a low carbon electricity system,鈥� he says.
The research聽assumed a mix of 80 per cent wind and 20 per cent solar power, backed up by storage and interconnectors to move energy between countries.
The impact of more extreme weather, fueled by climate change, wasn鈥檛 examined by the authors but both they and Watson say聽that should be looked at more closely. In the future, for example, solar panels could need protecting against 鈥渟uper hailstorms鈥�, and wind turbines against fiercer storms.
Joule
