The Belgian grid operator Elia announced this Monday for the first time that solar and wind power generated enough electricity to cover the country’s entire electricity needs.
The record happened between 13:00 and 13:30. Sun and wind together produced 8,303 MW of electricity on Monday, surpassing Sunday’s record of 7,695 MW, Elia wrote in a message on his LinkedIn channel. Last year’s record was 7,112 MW on May 11.
The share of solar energy in the record production of electricity was significantly larger than that of wind, i.e. about 5,500 MW according to the diagram published by Elia.
“Moments like this highlight the need for a new market model that encourages flexible consumption,” the grid operator said. “In such a model, consumers with flexible devices such as heat pumps and electric cars can charge their devices when there is plenty of cheap, green electricity available, while helping to keep the grid balanced.”
Photo: Elia
