Energy Storage, a Condition for Integrating Natural Energy Sources into the Electrical Grid

Sustainability by using regenerative sources is a longterm political goal, the reasons are the finite fossil resources and the avoidance of emissions and waste. Of the natural energy sources, wind is considered in Europe to offer best promise for contributing in the coming decades a substantial portion of the electrical supply. It is discussed, how the environment-oriented policy in Germany of feeding with priority large quantities of privileged wind power into the supply affects the stability of the grid and whether it can relieve the dependence on fossil and nuclear fuels. Generation of storable secondary energy carriers such as hydrogen for decoupling the fluctuating supply and demand may be a preferable alternative. The possibility of processing the CO2-emissions of coal power stations with regenerative hydrogen, similar to natural photosynthesis, is briefly discussed.