http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/05/13/3436923/germany-energy-records/
Germany Sets New Record, Generating 74 Percent Of Energy Needs From
Renewable Energy
[Despite assurances from North American energy experts that the grid
cannot possibly accommodate more than 40% (previously 10, 20 and 30% -
but always a round decadal number) of its supply from renewables without
crashing the entire grid, German power consumers noted no
irregularities, except that the price of electricity went negative for
part of the day.
images and links in on-line article]
By Kiley Kroh
May 13, 2014 at 11:16 am Updated: May 14, 2014 at 12:22 pm
On Sunday, Germany’s impressive streak of renewable energy milestones
continued, with renewable energy generation surging to a record portion
— nearly 75 percent — of the country’s overall electricity demand by
midday. With wind and solar in particular filling such a huge portion of
the country’s power demand, electricity prices actually dipped into the
negative for much of the afternoon, according to Renewables International.
In the first quarter of 2014, renewable energy sources met a record 27
percent of the country’s electricity demand, thanks to additional
installations and favorable weather. “Renewable generators produced 40.2
billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, up from 35.7 billion
kilowatt-hours in the same period last year,” Bloomberg reported. Much
of the country’s renewable energy growth has occurred in the past decade
and, as a point of comparison, Germany’s 27 percent is double the
approximately 13 percent of U.S. electricity supply powered by
renewables as of November 2013.
Observers say the records will keep coming as Germany continues its
Energiewende, or energy transformation, which aims to power the country
almost entirely on renewable sources by 2050.
“Once again, it was demonstrated that a modern electricity system such
as the German one can already accept large penetration rates of variable
but predictable renewable energy sources such as wind and solar PV
power,” said Bernard Chabot, a renewable energy consultant based in
France, via email. “In fact there are no technical and economic
obstacles to go first to 20 percent of annual electricity demand
penetration rate from a combination of those two technologies, then 50
percent and beyond by combining them with other renewables and energy
efficiency measures and some progressive storage solutions at a modest
level.”
To reach the lofty goal of 80 percent renewables by 2050, Germany had to
move quickly. Despite being known for gray skies, the country has
installed an astonishing amount of solar photovoltaic (PV) power —
setting multiple solar power generation records along the way. At the
end of 2012, Germany had installed considerably more solar power
capacity per capita than any other country. The rapid growth has slowed,
however, with 3.3 GW of PV installed in 2013, compared to 7.6 in 2012.
And as countries like the U.S., Japan and China catch up, installations
have continued to drop in 2014.
Regardless, a recent analysis by the consulting firm Eclareon found that
solar power has reached grid parity in Germany, meaning once all of the
costs are accounted for, the price of commercial solar power is now
equal to retail electricity rates.
And wind power reached record output levels last year — producing a
massive 25.2 GW and accounting for 39 percent of the electricity supply
on a single day in December.
The unprecedented growth of solar PV in particular has been fueled in
large part by policies that incentivize clean energy. Germany’s simple
feed-in tariff (FIT) policy, which pays renewable energy producers a set
amount for the electricity they produce under long-term contracts, has
driven the solar power boom. But as installations continued to outpace
government targets, Germany announced last year that it would begin
scaling back its feed-in tariff.
The FIT is financed by a surcharge paid by utility customers, but a
major part of the problem stems from the fact that industry is largely
exempt from the renewables surcharge — meaning the burden falls on
households. Rather than adjust the industry exemption, the government
instead proposed a “PV self-consumption charge” on new photovoltaic
systems, something Germany’s Solar Industry Association recently
announced it plans to challenge in court.
The equity of the renewables surcharge isn’t the only criticism of
Germany’s power transformation. Along with cutting out fossil
fuel-generated energy to a large extent, the transition to renewables
includes completely phasing out nuclear power. These goals are only
achievable in combination with greatly reduced energy demand. Instead,
coal imports are increasing in order to meet the country’s baseload
power demands. And retail electricity rates are high and rising, putting
pressure on lower income individuals in particular.
But many of the criticisms are largely overblown, according to Amory
Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute. The modest uptick in coal-fired
generation was substituting for pricier natural gas, not representative
of a return to coal as it’s often mischaracterized. In fact, last
December, as renewable energy production continued to grow and energy
demand shrank, Germany’s largest utility chose not to renew two
long-term contracts for coal-fired power.
And while much is made of rising industrial electricity prices, Lovins
points out that in fact, “giant German firms enjoy Germany’s low and
falling wholesale electricity prices, getting the benefit of renewables’
near-zero operating cost but exempted from paying for them.”
And as for the impact on the consumer, “the FIT surcharge raised
households’ retail price of electricity seven percent but renewables
lowered big industries’ wholesale price 18 percent. As long-term
contracts expire, the past few years’ sharply lower wholesale prices
could finally reach retail customers and start sending households’ total
electricity prices back down.”
What’s more, “in Germany you have the option of earning back your
payments, and far more, by investing as little as $600 in renewable
energy yourself,” Lovins writes. “Citizens, cooperatives, and
communities own more than half of German renewable capacity, vs. two
percent in the U.S.”
Challenges aside, Energiewende — rooted in the acknowledgement that a
fossil fuel-based energy system is not sustainable — is remarkable for
its scope and its widespread support, particularly in a heavily
industrialized country like Germany. “Don’t forget what Germany is doing
right now. It’s changing its power supply,” Paul Hockenos, a
Berlin-based energy expert and journalist, told Voice of America earlier
this year. “The last time when an energy supply was changed was the
industrial revolution; this is something that has never been done before.”
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