Denmark's wind farms produced more electricity than the country needed overnight, with output reaching 116% of national demand before climbing to 140% by 3am on Friday morning, according to figures published by the Danish transmission system operator, Energinet.
The data, which provides a minute-by-minute account of renewable power in the national grid, showed the windfarms were not even operating at their full 4.8GW capacity during the peaks.
Interconnectors allowed 80% of the surplus power to be shared equally between Germany and Norway, both of which can store it in hydropower systems for later use. Sweden took the remaining fifth of the excess.
Target Could Be Reached Early
A surge in windfarm installations means Denmark could be producing half of its electricity from renewable sources well before a target date of 2020, according to Kees van der Leun, chief commercial officer of the Ecofys energy consultancy.
The overnight figures illustrate how Denmark's grid is increasingly able to handle periods of high wind generation, with interconnectors to neighbouring countries playing a central role in absorbing surplus power.
Editorial Notes