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Germany’s ‘Green’ Energy Failure:
Germany turns back to ‘dirty’ coal and natural gas as millions of its solar panels are blanketed in snow and ice
Germany’s ‘Green’ Energy Failure: Germany turns back to ‘dirty’ coal and natural gas as millions of its solar panels are blanketed in snow and ice | Tech News | Startups News (techstartups.com)Germany turns back to ‘dirty’ coal and natural gas as millions of its solar panels are blanketed in snow and ice
11 Feb 2021 ~~ By Nickie Louise
Energiewende is a German word for ‘”energy transition.” Energiewende is a policy launched by the German government in 2000 to decarbonize its primary energy supply. Depending on whom you ask, the program has been praised by many environmentalists and others called it a failure.
In 2000 when the program was first launched, 6.6 percent of Germany’s electricity came from renewable sources such as solar and wind. In 2019, almost two decades later, the share reached 41.1 percent. That’s where the good news end. In 2000, Germany had an installed capacity of 121 gigawatts with 577 terawatt-hours generated, which is 54 percent as much as it theoretically could have done (that is, 54 percent was its capacity factor). But in 2019, the country only produced a meager 5 percent more (607 TWh).
During the twenty-year period, the Germans also paid a hefty price for the program. For example, the average cost of electricity for German households has doubled since 2000. By 2019, households had to pay 34 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to 22 cents per kilowatt-hour in France and 13 cents in the United States, according to data from IEEE Spectrum.
That’s not all. This year, the coldest weather in a decade arrives in western Europe. Bitter cold and snow sweep across western Europe including Germany, Great Britain, and France. Germany faces a sober reality as millions of its solar panels are blanketed in snow and ice and breathless. The freezing weather has rendered its 30,000 wind turbines to idleness. It is not just the wind turbines. Solar panels covered with snow are also rendered useless. You may call it “coal comfort” as a total collapse in the wind and solar output leaves freezing Germans desperate for coal-fired power.
For many years, Germany has been held up as the world’s wind and solar capital. But now, the deadly winter is putting a strain on Germany’s Energiewende program and the country has to be rescued by, you guessed it, “dirty” fossil fuels.
~Snip~
The reporter went on to say that Germany will have to rely more on natural gas from Russia, coal power from Poland, and nuclear power from France.
Comment:
Mother Nature has a great sense of humor, doesn’t She?
At what cost is Green Energy?... as the article says it is high ... so high that as many as 1.5 million households can not afford electricity and go without. They shut down their nuke plants when Japan had their huge accident and the cost shot up. This because of so few coal plants operable.
Now Germany is buying it's power as far as Russia...