FRANKFURT- Electrical transmission networks (TSOs) in Germany said they mastered a solar eclipse around midday on Thursday across northern Europe and related fall in solar power output without problems, having prepared for the event months in advance.
"The nature phenomenon did not affect the security of the power supply in the network areas of the four transmission system operators 50Hertz, Amprion, TenneT and TransnetBW," the four transmission grid operators said in a joint statement.
The sun was partially hidden by the moon between 0920 GMT and 1140 GMT at 20% in northern Germany while the recorded sun coverage in southern Germany was between 4.5% and 10%, they said.
The TSOs had marketed less solar power before the event and during the critical time were able to draw on 1 gigawatt (GW) of balancing capacity that they had tendered for from a variety of conventional and renewable power generation sources.
Balancing power can spring into action quickly to smooth variations in power feed-in on the networks.
TSOs must keep the grids in balance between supply and demand because power cannot be stored to large extents.
The TSOs said that weather prognoses in the run-up to the event had proved to be highly reliable, allowing minimum friction.
(Reporting by Vera Eckert; editing by Jonathan Oatis) ((vera.eckert@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 2201 33654; @EckertVera;))
