Beware the Curse of the Dunkleflaute

Beware the curse of the dunkelflaute. Don’t feel too bad if you’ve never heard of this weather phenomenon, especially if you’re living on this side of the Atlantic.

Known as anticyclonic gloom among meteorologists, the dunkelflaute is an event that stems from a static high-pressure system that can lead to a period of low wind and sunlight; the word translates to “dark doldrums” or “dark lull.”

Doesn’t sound so bad, right?

Despite only coming a handful of times each year, the dunkelflaute is a stark reminder to never put all of your eggs in one basket when it comes to energy.

Race to the Green Prize

Normally, I’d agree. In fact, there’s not much reason for us to fear the dunkelflaute here here in the United States.

There isn’t much worry even in countries like Japan, where the event typically takes place during the summer months.

However, the dunkelflaute brings its share of chaos each year to Europe. The reason why is because with the dunkelflaute comes a period when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.

You can see how this might be a bit of an issue to EU members like Germany, who have been aggressively pushing out more traditional and reliable sources of energy like coal. To their credit the Germans have been making huge strides in developing their supply of wind power.

Go ahead and take a look at their progress since the turn of the century:

Of course, Germany’s strong push toward renewable energy is all part of an “energy turnaround” that started back in 2010, when its government set the country on an accelerated path toward clean energy — the mighty Energiewende.

Under this plan, Germany will transition its energy sector so that renewables account for 80% of electricity demands, effectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 95%.

The Energiewende is a laudable goal, to be sure.

However, whether you love renewable energy or damn its existence, you can’t deny that it’s had a few serious consequences — the most obvious being the utter destruction of the coal industry.

In 2023, Germany’s power production from coal fell to its lowest levels in 60 years. This year is no different, with coal consumption for power generation plummeting nearly 40% during the first nine months of 2024.

Now, I know some of you may be thinking that this is great news. My bet is that most people only think this way because they aren’t the ones paying electricity bills in Berlin… or the EU, for the matter.

Electricity prices in Germany averaged about €0.3951 per kWh during the first half of the year. Not only is this more than double what we pay on average here in the United States, but it’s a huge premium over what the rest of Europe is shelling out for power.

The problem is that costs are just one part of the problem, dear reader.

Right now Europe is experiencing a prolonged dunkelflaute, which has led to a severe drop in wind and solar power generation. As you might expect, Germany is forced to cover that power gap with fossil fuels, which accounted for 70% of power generation last week.

More than a decade of executing its aggressive energy transition has put the country in quite a predicament.

There’s no going back to coal, and Germany has made it clear that their future won’t be powered through clean nuclear energy.

That just leaves them with one savior… and we’ll talk about where Germany will turn to meet its growing power needs next time.

Stay tuned.