From around 7 p.m. the moon will slowly move past the sun. Solar power generation drops noticeably during this time. A British energy supplier is giving its customers free electricity at the weekend if they save today. German households are in trouble because of a lack of infrastructure.
The European energy supply will be tested for its resilience this evening. The reason is the solar eclipse. Over Germany, depending on the location, the moon obscures around 84 to 90 percent of the sun from 7 p.m. Only a narrow crescent remains. The effect is greater further west: In Spain, a total darkness can be seen in a strip from Oviedo in the north via Burgos to the Balearic island of Mallorca. Even the northeasternmost tip of Portugal sinks into darkness for a few seconds.
In total, even the total solar eclipse over Spain lasts less than two minutes. However, it takes a good two hours for the moon to completely pass the sun. Solar power generation in large parts of Europe will therefore fall significantly earlier than on a normal summer evening. According to calculations by the transmission network association ENTSO-E, feed-in could decrease by up to almost ten gigawatts between 7:15 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. CET. Spain and Germany are the most affected. To cushion the decline, additional reserve power plants were planned and maintenance work was postponed.
German grid operators assure that the solar eclipse will have no impact on power supplies. On the other hand, a clear effect can be seen in the electricity prices on the exchange: the prices for short-term amounts of electricity traded in the evening are sometimes more than 400 euros per megawatt hour. This corresponds to 40 cents per kilowatt hour and is many times the usual price level. In households with intelligent electricity meters and dynamic electricity tariffs, energy suppliers will therefore adapt the use of networked devices such as heat pumps, battery storage or the charging process of electric cars to the solar eclipse.
This also applies to Great Britain. There the moon will obscure up to 95 percent of the sun. Due to the time difference, the solar eclipse falls exactly at the time when millions of people come home from work and do laundry, cook or use the dishwasher.
In order to ease the burden on the system and avoid a price trap, Britain's largest energy supplier Octopus Energy is calling on its eight million customers not to switch on their washing machines and stoves between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. local time. As compensation, participating households will receive one hour of free electricity next Sunday.
However, the energy supplier's German customers are staring down the barrel. “We would love to offer what our colleagues do in Great Britain in Germany,” explains Octopus Energy boss Bastian Gierull when asked by ntv.de. "Millions of households could get free electricity for a bit of flexibility. Without any new power plants or lines. The problem is not the idea, but the infrastructure: In Great Britain, practically all households (70 percent, editor's note) have a smart meter, in our country it is currently only a few percent. Without smart meters, consumption can neither be measured in real time nor rewarded in a targeted manner."
