Germany continues move to clean energy, though it is not easy

Germany grapples with nuclear energy phaseout The Local Germany’s energy transition project – in which nuclear power will be phased out and replaced with energy from renewable sources – is facing the challenges of cheap coal, unresolved energy storage and an out-of-date electricity grid. 20 May 13 “…The hard-to-predict flow of renewable energies compared to fossil or nuclear power is one of the many challenges of the energy transition which Chancellor Angela Merkel rang in following Japan’s 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

It is a grand project that Environment Minister Peter Altmaier once labelled “open-heart surgery on the national economy” of Europe’s export-driven industrial powerhouse.
The goal is to be nuclear-free by 2022 and to combat pollution and climate change by boosting the share of clean and safe renewables to 80 percent by 2050.
Across Germany, solar panels, made popular by state subsidies and falling unit prices, now cover many home roofs and stretches of farmland.
New laws have allowed home owners to sell excess power back into the grid, while other incentives promote home insulation and other efficiency gains.
Germany’s solar power capacity has risen exponentially to reach a current level of about 30 gigawatts. Another 25 to 30 gigawatts come from wind farms across vast
stretches of Germany’s flat, coastal north and offshore parks in the North and Baltic seas.

Merkel, a physicist by training, said last week that, under optimal conditions, the total now falls just shy of Germany’s usual demand of 65 to 70 gigawatts

“During hours that are windy and sunny, a combination that is quite common, we can cover almost all of Germany’s demand with renewable energy,” she said.

Of course, it’s not always windy and sunny, which means Germany is searching for ways to store energy, in the equivalent of giant batteries.

Another key challenge is getting the power from where it is generated, especially northern wind farms, to where it is needed, mostly the industrial centres in the south and west.

To do this Germany is planning several new north-south “power highways” which, ironically, often face opposition from environmentalists who don’t want unsightly power lines cutting through forests.

Parliament last month approved a €10 billion plan to build nearly 3,000 kilometres of new high-voltage lines, and modernise 3,000km more, for the four network operators Amprion, Tennet, 50Hertz and TransnetBW.

While the complex new system is being built, conventional power sources are being used to plug gaps in output – sometimes Schneiders and his colleagues even have to rev up a shuttered nuclear reactor again for short stretches.

The problem for power companies is that running a gas plant occasionally only to make up shortfalls is not economically viable, and several of them have closed.

There has also been a resurgence of cheap coal, considered a dirtier energy source, abetted by a market failure in the European carbon emission trade. ….. http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20130520-49809.html#.UZvydaJwpLs