Since the beginning of the 19th century, scientists have been studying global warming. At the time, the scientists suspected that the gases mankind started to emit since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution were harmful to the climate. And the scientists’ suspicions were correct.
In recent years, increasingly more has become clear about the consequences of climate change. Although there is still a minority of people questioning the cause of climate change, a very clear trend has become visible in the data in recent years. Not only do we see a trend in the average temperature and sea level, both rising, also the number of extreme climate events has increased, with all the associated consequences. And if these trends continue, it is only a matter of time before we face even more deforestation, desertification, and drought. We must act now.
Fortunately, in almost every industry in recent years, developments have been contributing to a more sustainable climate. For example, the construction sector has made great strides with the use of circular materials, and the transport sector is heavily investing in electrifying their vehicles. The energy industry is also investing heavily in green energy, as companies have been massively investing in storing energy in batteries.
But at the core, there is one factor that is really crucial for a successful energy transition: the way we produce our energy. There hasn't been any battery on this earth, we didn't charge before using it. And this energy comes from our energy grid, for the most part. In the Netherlands, the company Tennet is responsible for the high-voltage grid, where producers can put their electricity on, and consumers can take their electricity off. But how green is our energy?
In recent years, the Netherlands has been heavily investing in climate-neutral ways to feed the power grid sustainably. In the Netherlands, there is a total of 63 GW of installed capacity. This means that if we were to tap all energy sources at the same time, in their highest gear, we could oversupply the Netherlands with energy, about three times over. But it wouldn't be generated in a fully sustainable way, as can be seen from the table below.
Installed capacity in 2025
| Production Type | 2025 [MW] |
|---|---|
| Fossil gas | 18 718 |
| Nuclear | 486 |
| Solar energy | 27 259 |
| Fossil hard coal | 4 012 |
| Wind – onshore | 6 967 |
| Wind – offshore | 4 739 |
| Waste | 670 |
| Biomass | 418 |
| Hydropower – river/polder | 38 |
| Total | 63 307 |
Source: entsoe.eu
A large part of our energy is generated by non-sustainable sources, as shown in the table. Out of the 63 GW of installed capacity, 23.8 GW consists of non-sustainable sources, such as gas and coal plants. The CO₂ emissions per MWh are about X, which per day results in a total CO₂ emission of Y. But if we have so many solar- and windcapacity installed, why don’t we simply use that, and remove all the gas plants? Well, that is impossible...
For both sustainable energy sources, coming from solar panels and wind farms, we depend on the whims of the weather. Experience tells us that the wind does not always blow, and that the sun does not always shine. The wind is invisible and can be volatile sometimes, both making it harder to predict. This brings uncertainty to the electricity grid. But luckily, we can also use our solar energy. Right?
Like the wind does not blow all the time, the sun does not shine all the time. The sun only shines during the day, and even during the day we face our challenges. Clouds can move, evaporate or form agressively, altering the immediate solar output. And these changes are real. We have so much installed solar capacity, that on a sunny day, we can over supply the Netherlands, almost twice. And like any other aspect of life, surplusses can do harm. And the surplus of solar energy does too. Because it can harm the energy grid.
The grid operator is responsible for keeping the energy grid on a 50 Hz balance. As the table shows, we have different options to add power to the grid. Our biggest installed item of capacity is solar, with a total capacity of 27,3 GW in the Netherlands. This means that every change in the cloud cover, either dissolving or forming, can result in a large impact on the total amount of energy generated by the solar panels. The result is that this causes large sudden solar drops or peaks, altering the balance on the power grid, which comes along with the certain consequences. This is why an accurate solar nowcast is valuable.
Potential clients
- A grid operator can greatly benefit from an accurate solar prediction, using it to react to sudden changes in solar radiation, that would otherwise strongly influence the power grid.
- A solar park owner can greatly benefit from an accurate solar prediction, using it to anticipate on possible cloud evaporations, and preventing himself from overfeeding the grid with his solar park, which is penalized by a fine.
- An energy trader can greatly benefit from an accurate solar prediction, because he can use it to take calculated positions on foresighted shortages or surpluses due to the expected amount of forecasted solar energy.
- A bitcoin miner can greatly benefit from an accurate solar prediction, because when bitcoin miners mine on a surplus of solar energy, they take energy from the grid, lowering the surplus of solar energy, and adding security to the bitcoin network, using free energy.
What we do
And it is exactly for these parties that SolarNowcasting.com works. We provide solar forecasts based on real-time geostationary satellite data and machine learning algorithms. We work with various techniques that offer accurate and insightful forecasts up to 2 hours ahead. Our data is of the highest possible quality, and we are constantly optimizing our prediction models, because only the best forecasts count.
Interested? Mail [email protected]