No fear of dark fall outs

Dresden, March 25, 2025

Terra X – the knowledge column of zdf heute and author Axel Kleidon has looked into the phenomenon and buzzword of the energy transition opponents “dark doldrums” and compiled exciting findings on the energy system of the future.

The turnaround can no longer be stopped. More and more people are convinced of this. After all, electricity from PV and wind power plants is unbeatably efficient and cheap. However, electricity generation from renewable energies is subject to fluctuations. The solution: storage, trading, flexible power plants or adapted consumption, according to Terra X. The electricity market will decide what prevails.

Let’s stay with storage systems. They play a decisive role in ensuring flexibility. ZDF today dedicated a video to the problem of the lack of storage in April 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JrxQUJnIw4

A lot has happened since then. The growth and expansion of renewable energies has accelerated rapidly since then. In 2024, 59.4% of electricity was already generated from renewable energies, i.e. wind power, PV, biogas and hydropower. Storage is needed to cover the next 20% of the electricity mix with renewables. This is because the electricity generated is not always needed immediately and must be stored temporarily.

Battery storage systems are ideal for this. Prices have been falling for years and the development of the technology is well advanced. The business model behind it is simple: buy electricity when there is a lot of it and it is correspondingly cheap. Sell when there is little available and you can earn a lot of money with the difference.

Such a system can be secured with flexible gas-fired power plants that can step in at short notice and then be shut down again.

So where does the concern about dark doldrums come from? From history, when base load was a major issue. Nuclear power plants ran continuously, heavily subsidized by the state, and thus covered the basic demand for electricity. But those days are long gone. Europe is highly interconnected and electricity is traded. Base load has become residual load. Residual load is the electricity demand that is not covered by fluctuating renewables. The magic word today is flexibility.

Terra X aptly summarizes: “Challenges are not only dark doldrums, but also increasing drought stress. Our energy system of the future must be able to cope with both and do so as cheaply as possible. This requires a cool head, the solutions are available. We will certainly not overcome these challenges with yesterday’s ideas, fossil fuel lobby interests and scaremongering.”

TRICERAs opinion:

Fortunately, change and the energy transition cannot be stopped, no matter how vehemently some forces try to change things. We should all resist the prophecies of doom and push ahead with the energy transition with all our might to mitigate the consequences of the climate crisis and ensure a planet worth living on. We are happy to do our part. If you have any questions about your project, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Further information at: https://tricera.energy

Contact person 

Philipp Berger
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philipp.berger@tricera.energy
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