2024 Dunkelflaute
(Dark Doldrums)
What Happened
"Dunkelflaute" means "dark wind lull" in German -- a period when both wind and solar output collapse at the same time. In November and December 2024, a persistent high-pressure weather system parked over Central Europe, bringing still air and overcast skies for weeks.
Germany has over 170 GW of installed renewable capacity. During the worst days, wind turbines produced just 3-4% of their rated output. Solar contributed only 4.3% in November. The grid did not fail -- coal, gas, oil, and imports from France (nuclear) and Poland (coal) filled the gap. But wholesale electricity prices spiked to 18-year highs, peaking above 900 EUR/MWh.
No homes lost power. But the event demonstrated that a renewable-heavy grid without large-scale storage is deeply vulnerable to weather patterns lasting more than a few days.
Timeline
Root Cause
Weather, not equipment failure. A persistent high-pressure system simultaneously suppressed wind and solar output for weeks. Germany's grid survived only because coal, gas, and oil plants -- including facilities Germany plans to phase out -- ran at maximum capacity. Cross-border imports from nuclear and coal-heavy neighbors filled the remaining gap. The event was not a grid failure, but a preview of what happens without storage. In normal conditions, Germany faces the opposite problem: curtailing excess renewables.