DefinePK

Abstract

European countries have a target to reduce the use of coal and fossil fuel and substitute them with renewable energy. Solar power, hydropower, and wind power are the most popular energies, but these power generations fluctuate based on weather variables. High dependence to weather also applied for energy demand. These climate dependencies (e.g. seasonality and intermittency) make the integration of climate related energies into the conventional energy system potentially difficult. In this research, we assess the fluctuations of the energy production potential for different climate related energy sources. The analysis is done for 12 regions among Europe from long chronological time series of data obtained for 1980 to 2012 (33 years). The seasonal pattern of energy production is highly region dependent: solar power production are different between northern and southern areas due to differences in temperature and solar radiance cycles, hydropower production are different between northern-eastern and western areas due to precipitation patterns and snow dynamic, wind power production pattens differ between oceanic and continental areas based on the difference of wind speed, and the fluctuation of energy demand is different between northern and southern areas following the differences in heating and cooling needs especially for households. Cofluctuations between energy sources are finally explored suggesting the interest of mixes for a better integration of these energy sources.