Which solar container communication station in Luxembourg is the best for wind and solar complementarity

Does cross-country coordination of wind and solar capacity increase capacity factor?

We find that optimal cross-country coordination of wind and solar capacities across Europe’s integrated electricity system increases capacity factor by 22% while reducing hourly variability by 26%. We show limited benefits to solar integration due to consistent output profiles across Europe.

How can wind and solar help decarbonize Europe?

As wind and solar will soon become the largest sources of electricity production both within Europe, and then worldwide, this framework can help identify the optimal combination of resources that maximize production and minimize variability, contributing thus to a faster and cheaper decarbonization process.

Is there a complementarity between wind and solar?

At the daily timescale (Figure A2 in the Appendix), the shares of solar are even higher (∼68–75%). In general (i.e. across the studied countries and timescales), there is a complementarity between wind and solar that, when deploying capacities at optimal levels, may help mitigate variability and thus integration costs.

What is the spatial distribution of solar PV systems in Europe?

For solar PV, there are no consistent data on the spatial distribution of Europe’s utility and rooftop PV systems. We therefore modelled a single crystalline PV installation in each grid cell of MERRA-2, specified at a resolution of 0.5° latitude and 0.625° longitude, and assigned each cell to its respective country.