23 gennaio 2024 – Intermittent renewables are not reducing the carbon intensity of electricity, and they cannot achieve very low CO2 levels. The first graph below shows that the carbon intensity of European countries increases slightly as they use more intermittent renewables. This may be because they need more backup fossil fuels such as gas or coal to balance the grid. In any case, the statistics are clear.

The second graph shows that the carbon intensity of electricity decreases as countries use more clean reliable technologies, such as nuclear, hydro, and geothermal. These sources can reduce carbon emissions effectively by fully replacing fossil fuels without any need for backup.

No country in the world can reach low CO2 electricity below 100 g CO2-eq/kWh by relying mainly on intermittent renewables. The pillar of low-carbon electricity must be non-intermittent clean sources. Hydropower, nuclear, or geothermal, or a combination of them, are the best options. Statistics has spoken.