March 20, 2024

Atlantic blast hits European solar production

Irradiance and PV production was more than 15% below normal during February across most of Europe. The production shortfalls were due to thick clouds in moist westerly winds from the Atlantic, penetrating more strongly and further east than usual for this time of year.

A map showing the GHI deviation from average in Europe in February 2024

The large shortfalls in solar production compared to February normals spanned a vast area, across the UK (-13%), France (-19%), Belgium (-31%), Netherlands (-35%), and Germany (-17%). Shortfalls of similar magnitude were seen across Switzerland, Northern Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, southern Sweden, the Baltic states and Ukraine. Some locations in France and Poland reached as low as 40% below normal irradiance.

A graph showing the impact of a cloudy February in European Grids

The thicker-than-usual clouds were the result of a series of low pressure systems in the vicinity of Iceland, Norway and the UK. These low pressure systems drove moist westerly winds and clouds from the Atlantic deep across Europe north of the Alps.

A satellite image of Storm Louis on February
Satellite image of Storm Louis (Wenke), 23rd February (source: NASA Worldview)

With high winter-time precipitation, the solar production shortfalls could have been even worse due to snow soiling. Above-normal temperatures led to more rain than snow during February 2024.

Further south, conditions were closer to normal in more stable weather conditions across Portugal, Spain, Southern Italy, Greece, Turkey and the Balkans. Mean daily irradiation in these areas during February reached up to 4 kWh per day, with some areas receiving 120% normal irradiance. Ireland and Scotland, also received more irradiance than normal in February, but mostly due to the shorter days, this was still less than 1.5kWh per day. 

A map showing the average daily global horizontal irradiance in Europe in Februaryr

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Atlantic blast hits European solar production

Dr. Hugh Cutcher

Lead Data Scientist

Author

Hugh is a Data Scientist at Solcast. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons. I) in Mechanical Engineering and a PhD in Combustion from University of Sydney. Hugh believes that renewable energy is critical to ensuring a cleaner and safer world going forward and is excited to play a part in helping fulfil that potential.