The time for hybrid power plants has come. The combination of power generation from various renewable sources of energy, such as the sun, wind and hydropower, and smart storage technology bring a clear benefit: They allow the cost-efficient integration of electricity from renewable sources into the energy system. This is why, when the global solar industry meets at Intersolar Europe, the state of the art, regulations and prospects of hybrid power plants will be a much-discussed topic. The world’s leading exhibition for the solar industry will take place from May 7–9, 2025 as part of The smarter E Europe, Europe’s largest alliance of exhibitions for the energy industry, at Messe München. More than 3,000 exhibitors and over 110,000 visitors from all over the world are expected to attend in 2025.
Huge hybrid power plants are being built across Europe: Upon completion, a project in Portugal will comprise a 365 megawatt (MW) PV system, a wind farm with 264 MW, a 168 MW battery storage system and a 500 kilowatt (kW) electrolyzer for producing green hydrogen. A project in Spain combines photovoltaics and hydropower in a hybrid power plant with a total output of 86 MW. In Bulgaria, a hybrid power plant is under construction consisting of 238 MW PV, 250 MW wind power and a 250 MW battery storage system.
The deployment of photovoltaics continues its considerable growth: In 2023/2024, solar installations accounted for three quarters of newly installed energy generation capacity worldwide. In 2015, the global installed PV capacity was around 200 GW, in 2024, the generation capacity had been increased ten-fold to 2,000 GW – reaching the two-terawatt milestone. According to estimates by the International Energy Agency, around 6,000 GW of PV capacity will have been installed by 2030 – another trebling within just a few years. The almost exponential increase of renewable power requires a flexible and smart integration into the power system. An important part of the answer to the challenge of integration will be the combination of power generation and storage in the same place. In the near future, the combination of free-standing solar installations and storage systems will likely be the norm – this is a trend we are already seeing in the German residential storage system market.
A key driver of the comprehensive boom of hybrid projects are the virtually imploding prices for components. Photovoltaic components are now 85 percent cheaper, battery storage systems are even 90 percent cheaper than they were 15 years ago. According to a study by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) published in July 2024, the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for German solar farms is between 4.1 and 6.9 eurocents/kWh. When free-standing PV installations are combined with battery storage systems, the LCOE is between 6.0 and 10.8 cents/kWh. The production costs of fossil fuel power plants are considerably higher now: Electricity from brown coal-fired power plants costs 15.1 to 25.7 cents, hard coal-fired power plants 17.3 to 29.3 cents, combined cycle power plants 10.9 to 18.1 cents, and flexible gas-fired power plants 15.4 to 32.6 cents per kilowatt hour. Electricity from nuclear power plants costs 13.6 to 49.0 cents/kWh. This shows that with hybrid power plants, in addition to protecting the environment, we will also save a lot of money. They will be a guarantor for low electricity prices for industry, SMEs and private households in the long run.
The hybrid power plant trend will be spurred on by the global battery storage boom. Battery storage systems can help optimize marketing green electricity through various business models, such as feed-in tariffs or direct marketing. Batteries also enable energy arbitrage, i.e. storing electricity when prices are low, and feeding it back into the grid when demand – and thus prices – are high, as well as operating reserve and grid stability services. In future, grid stability services provided by hybrid power plants will contribute considerably to making the grids more stable and more flexible. Smart control concepts and processes will allow them to switch between operational modes for an ideal balance between profitability and grid-serving capability.
Grid connection points are often a limiting factor when it comes to deploying photovoltaics and wind power. Contrary to current practice, they could be used to connect a higher generation capacity than they are actually able to transmit. This kind of overbuilding of renewable capacity would make sense for hybrid power plants because the generation profiles of PV and wind power plants are very different and actually complement each other. Connecting both solar and wind power generation and overbuilding by 250 percent, the capacity utilization of a grid connection point could be increased to 53 percent. In contrast, PV-only power plants have a utilization rate of 13 percent on average, wind-only power plants 33 percent. The German Renewable Energy Federation refers to this approach as “low-hanging fruit”.
Intersolar Europe, taking place a little earlier than usual this year, from May 7–9, offers a comprehensive overview of the latest products, technologies and solutions, as well as the major trends in PV hybrid power plants. On Wednesday, May 7, the accompanying Intersolar Europe Conference will be holding a session on Hybrid PV Power Plants II: Strategies for Matching Energy Generation & Power Demand from 2:00pm to 3:30pm, and on Thursday, May 8, a session at the Intersolar Forum (hall A3, booth A3.150) will discuss hybrid power plants from 3:00pm to 4:30pm. Both of these sessions will be held in English. Intersolar Europe is part of the alliance of exhibitions The smarter E Europe. The organizers are expecting more than 3,000 exhibitors and over 110,000 industry professionals – from manufacturers, suppliers and distributors to installers, service providers, project developers, planners and start-ups – to attend the four exhibitions across 206,000 square meters over 19 exhibition halls and the Outdoor Area of the fully booked Messe München.
Intersolar Europe, and the parallel events ees Europe, Power2Drive Europe and EM-Power Europe, will take place from May 7–9, 2025 as part of The smarter E Europe, Europe’s largest alliance of exhibitions for the energy industry, at Messe München.