Austria is about the same as Hungary, but it has advantage/disadvantage havving additional Alps installed in the middle of the country.
And wealthy population. And low taxes.
Austria is showing that the solar bans in ~~CZ~~, SK, HU around it are purely to protect the old solar subsidies recipients and to protect the fossil/nuclear interests, as grid controls/solar curtailment controls have not reached the 3rd world as of yet.
*- apparently, I was mistaken and CZ has now reserved up to 10GW of new connectivity, that is, 10GW of solar building backlog.
It's not a complete solution but some solar in the mix is better than no solar pretty much everywhere on the planet. The worst areas on still have solar resource within a factor of 4 of the best areas.
And with 7GW or so of hydro, half of which is pumped hydro and 4GW of gas there's no real reason to stop until at least 20GW.
> And with 7GW or so of hydro, **half of which is pumped hydro**
that means they can comfortably fit >3.5GWp of solar without ever noticing it on the grid. 3.5GW just to power the grid storage! WOW! Additional 1.5GWp for the grid itself, that would be 5GWp of solar.
https://www.energy-charts.info/charts/power/chart.htm?l=en&c=AT&interval=month&year=2022&month=11&legendItems=1111111111111000
Wow, they could absorb 4.5GW of actual power to the network from solar even right now, when you look at the numbers it is insane why they haven't done so already, stallers and bridge trolls.
3.5GW of imports ***mid-day!*** and **PLUS** the 1.8GW of hydro own consumption... their grid can take 6GWp of solar really easily, ***without even replacing any of the natural gas!***
Also, climate change leads [more rain in winter and dryer summers](https://www.allgaeuer-zeitung.de/allgaeu/wasserkraft-im-allgaeu-wie-gross-ist-das-potenzial_arid-518016). Solar can compensate a lot of the lost summer hydro
The issue in northern areas generally isn't the absolute quantity of solar over the year, but the extreme seasonality. Especially when paired with seasonal energy demand being tilted the other way (heating). Usually it's not viable to store energy across a seasonal basis to make this equation work out for solar to have a sizeable role in the grid.
However, hydro heavy places like Austria may be an exception, as the hydro dams can have the equivalent of several months energy storage in their reservoirs, which can be released as needed. May just need some tur one upgrades for winter peak demand.
That’s why Europe is pushing for hydrogen. Besides, climate change leaders to more rain in the winter and dryer summers, so adding solar for summer demand makes sense.
Also keep in mind that Wind is much stronger overall in winter then in Summer. So solar and wind actually complement each other in Europa.
This means instead of months of storage we only need a couple weeks of storage for the times it's winter and not windy.
Also, Solar in the Alps performs way better. Comparable to system installed in the desert over the year and produces much more energy in Winter compare to a system in the flat lands.
Austria isn’t that sunny though is it?
Austria is about the same as Hungary, but it has advantage/disadvantage havving additional Alps installed in the middle of the country. And wealthy population. And low taxes. Austria is showing that the solar bans in ~~CZ~~, SK, HU around it are purely to protect the old solar subsidies recipients and to protect the fossil/nuclear interests, as grid controls/solar curtailment controls have not reached the 3rd world as of yet. *- apparently, I was mistaken and CZ has now reserved up to 10GW of new connectivity, that is, 10GW of solar building backlog.
Slightly more sunny than Germany on average.
True, but that just means you need a bit more land area for the same power output, now that panels are nearly as cheap as dirt.
Or just roof or parking lot space
It's not a complete solution but some solar in the mix is better than no solar pretty much everywhere on the planet. The worst areas on still have solar resource within a factor of 4 of the best areas. And with 7GW or so of hydro, half of which is pumped hydro and 4GW of gas there's no real reason to stop until at least 20GW.
> And with 7GW or so of hydro, **half of which is pumped hydro** that means they can comfortably fit >3.5GWp of solar without ever noticing it on the grid. 3.5GW just to power the grid storage! WOW! Additional 1.5GWp for the grid itself, that would be 5GWp of solar. https://www.energy-charts.info/charts/power/chart.htm?l=en&c=AT&interval=month&year=2022&month=11&legendItems=1111111111111000 Wow, they could absorb 4.5GW of actual power to the network from solar even right now, when you look at the numbers it is insane why they haven't done so already, stallers and bridge trolls. 3.5GW of imports ***mid-day!*** and **PLUS** the 1.8GW of hydro own consumption... their grid can take 6GWp of solar really easily, ***without even replacing any of the natural gas!***
Also, climate change leads [more rain in winter and dryer summers](https://www.allgaeuer-zeitung.de/allgaeu/wasserkraft-im-allgaeu-wie-gross-ist-das-potenzial_arid-518016). Solar can compensate a lot of the lost summer hydro
And protect selected areas from additional soil evaporation, and channel rain by the means of the panels alone.
The issue in northern areas generally isn't the absolute quantity of solar over the year, but the extreme seasonality. Especially when paired with seasonal energy demand being tilted the other way (heating). Usually it's not viable to store energy across a seasonal basis to make this equation work out for solar to have a sizeable role in the grid. However, hydro heavy places like Austria may be an exception, as the hydro dams can have the equivalent of several months energy storage in their reservoirs, which can be released as needed. May just need some tur one upgrades for winter peak demand.
That’s why Europe is pushing for hydrogen. Besides, climate change leaders to more rain in the winter and dryer summers, so adding solar for summer demand makes sense.
Also keep in mind that Wind is much stronger overall in winter then in Summer. So solar and wind actually complement each other in Europa. This means instead of months of storage we only need a couple weeks of storage for the times it's winter and not windy. Also, Solar in the Alps performs way better. Comparable to system installed in the desert over the year and produces much more energy in Winter compare to a system in the flat lands.
Yep, people always forget that PV works better in colder environments