Whatever one thinks about the economics of solar energy, public
policy has caused it to be fully built out to the extent that midday
production provided half of Germany's energy needs. Do the same with
wind power and you have an integrated system that is flexible and at
least half sustainable.
Find some shale gas and we can then see off the coal burners and the
balance of the nuclear before we even begin to explore the Rossi
reactor and other pending power solutions.
One important strategic result is that Germany is far less vulnerable
to fuel supply disruption than it ever was and becoming more so. In
an emergency, it can simply shut down or ration industrial demand in
order to power housing. The system is certainly that robust.
In the meantime, Russia's strategic leverage with gas supply is been
whittled away with a global glut developing for gas.
Germany sets new
solar power record, institute says
By Erik
Kirschbaum
BERLIN | Sat
May 26, 2012 2:02pm EDT
(Reuters) - German solar power plants produced a world record 22
gigawatts of electricity per hour - equal to 20 nuclear power
stations at full capacity - through the midday hours on Friday and
Saturday, the head of a renewable energy think tank said.
The German government decided to abandon nuclear power after the
Fukushima nuclear disaster last year, closing eight plants
immediately and shutting down the remaining nine by 2022.
Norbert Allnoch, director of the Institute of the Renewable Energy
Industry (IWR) in Muenster, said the 22 gigawatts of solar power per
hour fed into the national grid on Saturday met nearly 50 percent of
the nation's midday electricity needs.
"Never before anywhere has a country produced as much
photovoltaic electricity," Allnoch told Reuters. "Germany came
close to the 20 gigawatt (GW) mark a few times in recent weeks. But
this was the first time we made it over."
The record-breaking amount of solar power shows one of the world's
leading industrial nations was able to meet a third of its
electricity needs on a work day, Friday, and nearly half on Saturday
when factories and offices were closed.
Government-mandated support for renewables has helped Germany
became a world leader in renewable energy and the country gets about
20 percent of its overall annual electricity from those sources.
Germany has nearly as much installed solar power generation
capacity as the rest of the world combined and gets about four
percent of its overall annual electricity needs from the sun alone.
It aims to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 1990
levels by 2020.
Some critics say renewable energy is not reliable enough nor is
there enough capacity to power major industrial nations. But
Chancellor Angela Merkel has said Germany is eager to demonstrate
that is indeed possible.
The jump above the 20 GW level was due to increased capacity this
year and bright sunshine nationwide.
The 22 GW per hour figure is up from about 14 GW per hour a year
ago. Germany added 7.5 GW of installed power generation capacity in
2012 and 1.8 GW more in the first quarter for a total of 26 GW
capacity.
"This shows Germany is capable of meeting a large share of
its electricity needs with solar power," Allnoch said. "It
also shows Germany can do with fewer coal-burning power plants,
gas-burning plants and nuclear plants."
Allnoch said the data is based on information from the European
Energy Exchange (EEX), a bourse based in Leipzig.
The incentives through the state-mandated "feed-in-tariff"
(FIT) are not without controversy, however. The FIT is the lifeblood
for the industry until photovoltaic prices fall further to levels
similar for conventional power production.
Utilities and consumer groups have complained the FIT for solar
power adds about 2 cents per kilowatt/hour on top of electricity
prices in Germany that are already among the highest in the world
with consumers paying about 23 cents per kw/h.
German consumers pay about 4 billion euros ($5 billion) per year
on top of their electricity bills for solar power, according to a
2012 report by the Environment Ministry.
Critics also complain growing levels of solar power make the
national grid more less stable due to fluctuations in output.
Merkel's centre-right government has tried to accelerate cuts in
the FIT, which has fallen by between 15 and 30 percent per year, to
nearly 40 percent this year to levels below 20 cents per kw/h. But
the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, has blocked it.
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