The Limits of Renewable Energy: Challenges in Meeting Daily and Yearly Demand Variations

Renewable energy sources like solar and wind power have been hailed as the future of sustainable energy. However, their ability to meet the fluctuating demands of modern society is a topic of significant debate. While these sources offer numerous environmental benefits and reduce dependency on fossil fuels, their inherent variability poses a substantial challenge. Daily and seasonal fluctuations in energy production do not always align with consumption patterns, leading to potential shortfalls and reliability issues. This article explores the complexities of balancing renewable energy supply with dynamic energy demands, highlighting the technological and infrastructural advancements needed to bridge this critical gap.

some conditions for example weather, increase demand, energy security, lack of adequate infrastructure that make renewable energy sources can't cover the daily and yearly demand. But we can get Renewable energy sources for most our electrical usage.

Renewable energy can produce energy cover all our needs in daily life for example devices used in our homes and office building, heating tools and air conditioning can cover by geothermal energy. hydroelectricity can cover daily power usage from fridges, TVs, computers. Some countries use renewable energy to cover almost all usage for example Zambia, Norway, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Ethiopia and Albania.

In addition, renewable energy has challenges. The main one happens with solar, wind, hydro and biomass is produced energy quantity changing that make sustainability problems in three sides social, environmental and economic.

• Environmental sustainability:

the main point how to produce positive energy at considering produce renewable technology balance with invest energy in suitable time. renewable energy can't be sustainable when produces energy during its lifetime from renewable technology less than the cost of a renewable energy device. The reason for that is the material side in renewable technology is using rare earth metals, for example, wind turbines need mining neodymium (rare earth metals) that has a bad effect on the environment has equal bad effect mining coal for the environment. That means anything that’s mined destroys complete ecosystems that can't be sustainable. we always hope to build hydropower dams are less bad effect on the environment.

• Social sustainability:

This kind of sustainability focuses on how to use the planet’s in the best way and more efficient method. We have one world to produce enough food and energy for everybody so we should use it in a healthy way without damage the source of our energy and our health. On another side, we should have enough welfare to keep our psyche without any damage and not logical consumption energy because we have a renewable source. Besides, the availability the healthy circumstances for workers and people around the world.

• Economic sustainability:

subsidize for fossil electricity more than 100$ in billion worldwide (non-renewable source) that effect for orientation to use renewable source and it doesn't need the subsidize.

To conclude, we can renewable energy to cover our need with manage in long-term life but we want all thing at the same time when making a good plan and build new systems in order to adapt to user’s need, for example, we want the cheapest energy source, a lot of energy with high return for the companies that mean growth of economic, easy to use and learn , available always and everywhere and a little environmental impact.

Research Results on the Challenges of Renewable Energy in Meeting Daily and Yearly Demand Variations 

• Intermittent Nature of Renewable Energy:

Research conducted by the International Energy Agency (IEA) highlights that solar and wind energy production is highly variable. Solar power generation depends on daylight hours and weather conditions, while wind energy is contingent on wind speed and patterns. This intermittency leads to significant gaps in energy supply during periods of low sun or wind, making it difficult to consistently meet demand without substantial energy storage solutions.

• Energy Storage Limitations:

Studies from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) indicate that current energy storage technologies, such as lithium-ion batteries, are not yet capable of storing enough energy to compensate for prolonged periods of low renewable generation. While advances are being made in battery technology and other storage methods like pumped hydro and thermal storage, these solutions are still not widely deployed or cost-effective enough to ensure reliability on a large scale.

• Grid Stability and Reliability Issues:

Research published in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews demonstrates that integrating a high proportion of renewable energy into the grid can pose stability and reliability challenges. The grid requires a constant balance between supply and demand, and the unpredictable nature of renewables can lead to frequency and voltage fluctuations. This necessitates advanced grid management systems and backup generation capacity, often from fossil fuels, to maintain stability.

• Seasonal Variations in Energy Demand and Supply:

A study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) highlights the mismatch between seasonal energy demand and renewable energy supply. For example, solar energy production peaks in the summer when electricity demand for cooling is high, but drops significantly in the winter when heating demand rises. Similarly, wind patterns can vary seasonally, leading to periods of surplus and deficit. This seasonal mismatch complicates the planning and reliability of renewable energy systems.

• Economic and Infrastructural Constraints:

Research from the World Bank underscores that the economic and infrastructural investments required to fully integrate renewable energy into the existing energy system are substantial. Upgrading grid infrastructure, developing large-scale storage facilities, and implementing advanced forecasting and grid management technologies require significant financial resources and time. These constraints can slow the transition to a fully renewable energy-based system and limit its ability to meet fluctuating energy demands in the short to medium term.

When the demand for renewable energy increase that makes the price decrease so the consumer will orientation to renewable energy. we can do that by awareness campaigns and support for renewable energy users and their exemption from electricity taxes, and consumption prices can be separated by times.To manage supply, we can make a new method or improve methods that use now for example rechargeable batteries to have more capacity to store this energy. That means providing an infrastructure for renewable energy in our life that help us to meet our demand daily and yearly.