The coming weekend’s weather in Central Europe may be cloudy and calm — bad news for solar and wind power, but no reason for alarm. As Spektrum der Wissenschaft reports, such “dark doldrums” (known in German as Dunkelflauten) occur several times a year when renewable generation drops sharply. Yet experts agree: these short phases are not a threat to supply security — and can even accelerate the transformation of our energy systems.

Price peaks as an incentive for flexibility

When wind and solar output fall, fossil power plants still cover part of the gap. This raises electricity prices because more expensive reserve capacity is activated. According to energy economist Claudia Kemfert (DIW Berlin), such short-term price spikes are not a sign of failure but a useful market signal: they encourage investment in flexible capacity such as storage, demand-response systems, and new types of backup generation.

Europe’s interconnected grid, together with flexible biogas, hydropower, and hydrogen plants, already provides a high degree of stability. For Switzerland, the situation is similar: hydropower reservoirs and pumped-storage plants act as natural buffers that can release energy precisely when continental production dips. But as coal and gas decline, new climate-neutral backup solutions are needed — and that is where innovation begins.

Switzerland’s role: flexibility through diversity

Switzerland benefits from a unique mix of seasonal hydropower, alpine reservoirs, and strong cross-border interconnections. During times of low wind and solar output in neighbouring countries, Swiss hydropower can step in; during summer surpluses, it can store imported renewable electricity as water or convert it into other energy carriers.

Emerging Power-to-X technologies — converting renewable electricity into hydrogen, synthetic methane, or liquid fuels — extend this flexibility. They make it possible to store energy for weeks or months and to use it across sectors such as transport, industry, or aviation. This complements existing hydro storage and increases system resilience without relying on fossil imports.

Scarcity as a driver of innovation

Energy economist Felix Müsgens (BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg) highlights that temporary price spikes show market participants that investments in flexibility pay off. Households with time-variable electricity tariffs can shift their consumption, store cheap power, or even earn money by selling energy back to the grid during peak hours.

What looks like a crisis can thus become a catalyst for innovation: high prices stimulate the deployment of smarter grids, distributed storage, and sector-coupling technologies such as Power-to-X.

Turning pressure into progress

Germany has never reached the maximum allowed market price of 3000 € per megawatt-hour — despite already sourcing around 60 percent of its electricity from renewables. Switzerland’s mix of hydropower, imports, and increasingly flexible technology provides similar stability.

If temporary price peaks continue to guide investments — into Power-to-X, storage, and grid infrastructure — they may transform short-term scarcity into long-term strength. Rather than a threat, price fluctuations can be the mechanism by which Europe and Switzerland finance their own defossilised, resilient energy future.

Source: “Energieversorgung: Dunkelflaute voraus,” Spektrum der Wissenschaft, 7 November 2025.

https://www.spektrum.de/news/energieversorgung-dunkelflaute-voraus/2295116