Monday, November 25, 2013

Czech electricity grid company ready to block German wind power

oops ... first posted this as fresh news, but it's 2 years old.
Poland builds electronic wall to keep out German renewables is one example of a recent article indicating it's still topical.  From that article:
The move to install equipment knows as phase-shifters on transmission links between Poland and Germany is designed to give the Polish grid operator the power to block excess renewables output from Germany entering the Polish grid. As in Germany, a large amount of renewable energy causes wholesale prices to come down, and profits to fall.
OK, that's the context ... now back to my original post and a far more factual, and informative, overview of the issue:
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There are increasingly frequent references to the Czech Republic and Poland blocking Germany's "renewables."
The following article does a fairly good job of explaining the issue, which is low-quality, intermittent, power from Germany's north destined for consumption in Germany's south, and Austria, finding a route through Poland and the Czech Republic.

Czech electricity grid company ready to block German wind power | Czech Position:
The Czech Republic is facing the growing prospect of being forced to block disruptive and volatile flows of German wind-produced electricity through its power network in what would be a powerful signal to Berlin to sort out its internal energy market.
Large amounts of wind-produced electricity from northern Germany are now being shipped through the Czech Republic to German customers in the south of the country — and onwards towards Austria — because of the insufficiencies of the north-south German electricity grid.
...
The ČEPS manager was blunt in his message that Germany should get to grips with its power market problems and, if necessary, curb the output of wind power plants in the north of the country or limit the distance that electricity is being shipped across the country and into neighboring Austria.

Boldiš said the steps being weighed by Polish and Czech network operators would be welcomed by their German peers — who would finally have a reason for tackle the problems created by the large wind farms in the north of the country, far from centers of population and demand.
“These wind power producers do not give a toss about the security of our domestic electricity network,” he said. “With this wind power, what we have is a sort of situation where you put some sort of ecological car on the road and it creates congestion not just on the road it is travelling down but also in the opposite direction.”
Read the entire article at the Czech Position

Readers in Ontario and adjacent U.S. states shouldn't be entirely unfamiliar with unintended power flow issues - fortunately action here took place with agreements from both sides of the border.

U.S. approves ITC Michigan-Ontario power transformers | Reuters
The U.S. Department of Energy approved of power transmission company ITC Holdings Corp's long-awaited phase angle regulator power transmission project on the Michigan-Ontario border, which could save consumers in the area millions in electric costs, ITC said Thursday.
ITC projected the phase-shifting transformers, also known as phase angle regulators (PARs), would enter service in the second quarter.
The PARs are designed to help control unscheduled flows of power around Lake Erie. The companies that operate the power grids around the lake have blamed the unscheduled power movements for hundreds or millions of power congestion cost increase.
The initiative on the PARs followed 2003's massive blackout, which made strengthening the grid a priority.
Hopefully the Germans aren't going to create that kind of crisis before working with their neighbours to address the issue.


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