Myth: A grid that increasingly relies on renewable energy is an unreliable grid. Reality: It’s worth looking at the statistics on grid reliability in countries with high levels of renewables…. The US, where renewable energy and nuclear power each provide roughly 20% of electricity, had five times Germany‘s outage rate – 1.28 hours in 2020. Since 2006, Germany’s renewable share of electricity generation has nearly quadrupled, while its power outage rate was nearly halved.
Myth: Countries like Germany must continue to rely on fossil fuels to stabilise the grid and back up variable wind and solar power. Reality: During 2010-20, Germany’s generation from fossil fuels declined by 130.9 terawatt-hours and nuclear generation by 76.3 terawatt hours. These were more than offset by higher generation from renewables (149.5 terawatt hours) and energy savings that reduced consumption by 38 terawatt hours in 2019.
Myth: Because solar and wind energy can be generated only when the sun shines or the wind blows, they cannot be the basis of a grid that has to provide electricity 24×7. Reality: No kind of power plant runs 24×7, and operating a grid always involves managing variability of demand at all times. Solar and wind power or not, all electricity supply varies.
From ‘Three Myths About Renewable Energy and the Grid, Debunked‘, Yale School of the Environment.