May 12th of this year was very sunny in many parts of Germany. The conditions were perfect for photovoltaics: together with wind and hydropower as well as bioenergy, it covered the entire electricity demand between 9:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Nevertheless, fossil power plants were running – and not just on a reduced level – and they generated an output of around 4.5 to 5.5 gigawatts during this period. That corresponds to around nine to eleven medium-sized, fully utilized power plant blocks or around ten percent of the peak consumption on that day – The total production was already significantly higher than consumption due to the large amount of solar power. A pattern that repeats itself on many sunny and windy days.
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