Every now and then (and increasingly so, it seems), there is a news report about a country where electricity prices turned negative due to a glut of renewable solar and wind power generation. The latest example is France, but there have been previous reports from Germany, Denmark, Spain, California, etc.
The language in these reports is often mildly disparaging, not so much "congratulations on being able to produce so much green energy" as "*sigh*, this whole renewables thing is never going to work". Or even, "those damned cheap renewables had the audacity force France to reduce their really expensive nuclear capacity". Those are not actual quotes, but that is the vibe.
Actually, a big part of the problem is the difficulty and the cost of shutting down inflexible baseload generation like nuclear power stations, which therefore tend to get preferential treatment in these situations.
What these occurrences do highlight, more than anything, is the need for batteries. We have good battery technology now, but we need to be investing more in installing battery capacity so that, when there is a glut of renewable power, it doesn't just go to waste or, worse, mess up the whole grid supply system. That, and an improvement in transmission to neighbouring countries and jurisdictions that do not have such a wealth of renewable energy capacity.
That way, there won't be so many snide comments in the mainstream press. Excessive renewable power is not, in itself, a bad thing.
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