Mainstream media waking up to Fukushima danger, and Germany’s renewables leadership
The second energy event of this past weekend was uplifting and extraordinary, due to an extremely sunny weekend, half of Germany’s electricity was generated by solar power two days. The decision to close down and eventually shut all of Germany’s nuclear reactors now appears to have been justified
Germany’s Solar Success and Fukushima’s Crisis: Intelligent Energy Priorities, HUFFINGTONPOST, Vivian Norris 06/01/2012 
Last weekend, events took place which should make us think about the future of energy on this planet. Firstly, radioactive bluefish tuna was caught off the coast of California. The radioactivity, though in fairly small amounts, could be directly traced to the releases from the disasters at the reactors at Fukushima Daichi, following the devastating earthquake and tsunami.
And more importantly, the public finally received some answers from those supposedly in charge in Japan during the accident. Former Prime Minister Kan testified that the ties between regulators and TEPCO was so intertwined, and the accident so profound, that he called for Japan to stop all use of nuclear energy. For once, it appeared that mainstream media paid attention and published both Kan’s words, as well as articles on serious concerns about the status of fuel pools at Fukushima. Experts and more fringe elements on the internet had been publishing good information for over a year. It is to the New York Times’ credit that they acknowledged the role that the pressure from these groups played in forcing TEPCO and the Japanese government to admit they had not been forthcoming. Continue reading
Germany’s dazzling success with small scale solar energy
the really meaningful story starts with a different number: 189.24 GWh. That’s the amount of electrical energy generated from more than a million PV solar systems spread all over the country on that record day. Not only was this almost 14% of Friday’s total electricity consumption in Germany, it was also, actually, not that unusual.
For the last couple of weeks, the output of PV solar peaked within an inch of the 20 GW line several times, and it never peaked very low throughout the month. The lowest peak load was 8 GW, while the average peak load of PV solar was 16 GW. So, it seems that solar is not as unreliable as conventional wisdom and media outlets often lead people to believe. Because I can tell you that we didn’t have 4 weeks straight of sunshine here in Germany, that’s for sure.
In-Depth: Germany’s 22 GW Solar Energy Record Clean Technica, MAY 31, 2012 BY THOMAS Last Friday, on the 25th of May 2012, Germany set a new world solar energy record in photovoltaic solar energy: 22.4 GW of photovoltaic energy on the grid covering over 30% of all energy demand! That’s the equivalent of 20 huge conventional fossil or nuclear power plants. This is clearly amazing news that made headlines around the world and was accompanied by either praise or the typical anti-solar bickering that is rather dominant in big media outlets even today (or especially today).
The latter didn’t mind even using this incredible clean energy accomplishment to repeat the usual ignorant talking points, disinformation, or flat out lies. Unfortunately, those news pieces and early articles praising the event didn’t fully exploit the opportunity to explain the true significance of having so much solar energy in the energy mix, especially when looking at the technological developments and opportunities of the coming years. Continue reading
Distributed solar energy, and distributed energy storage
In-Depth: Germany’s 22 GW Solar Energy Record Clean Technica, MAY 31, 2012 BY THOMAS“…….Millions of Batteries in Buildings — Utopian? …… it is very easy to show that it’s just a matter of time until the combination of energy storage for homes with rooftop solar energy and/or small-wind becomes viable and even profitable.
Today, there are still about 6.4 million oil tanks in homes and buildings all over Germany storing energy in the form heating oil. Installing such a tank costs several thousand Euros today. So, why shouldn’t independent power producers start putting up new forms of energy storage in the same numbers as soon as it makes economic sense?
How would 6 million home storage systems change the energy system? Well, 6 million 10 kW / 25 kWh would mean a distributed storage system with 60 GW maximum output/input and 150 GWh of capacity. That’s already enough storage for 10% of the current daily consumption, more than enough to power all German households through the night. It’s also coming a long way to fill the gap between renewable baseload power (hydro and biomass) and variable sources like wind and solar.
That 10-kW/25-kWh battery is not fiction by the way. It’s quite similar to the battery pack that powers the Nissan Leaf right now, Just one battery that will soon reach production volumes in the hundreds of thousands as factories in Japan, Europe, and the US crank up production by 2013.
It’s true that the $15,000 price tag for the battery is too high right now. But, since all kinds of competitors are investing in this market, economics of scale, innovation and optimization will certainly reduce the cost of such batteries in the coming years. In the case of multi-kWh batteries, this development is a lot more obvious than what happened with the price for solar cells just 7 years ago. The fall of prices surprised many analysts back then. Today, prices for solar cells are 70%-80% cheaper than what they were in 2007, putting the cost of solar systems well below $2 per Watt in Germany…. .. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#inbox/137a6ed1432cd545
Germany doing well with nuclear phaseout – despite the nuclear lobby’s lies about this
Busting the carbon and cost myths of Germany’s nuclear exit, Guardian UK Damian Carrington, 23 May 12 Critics of the atomic phase-out said energy emissions, costs and imports would all rise. They were wrong. it’s worth taking a look at what actually happens when you phase out nuclear power in a large, industrial nation.
That is what Germany chose to do after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, closing eight plants immediately – 7GW – and another nine by 2022. The shrillest critics predicted blackouts, which was always daft and did not happen.
But more serious critics worried that the three things at the heart of th eenergy and climate change debate – carbon, cost and security of supply – would all head in the wrong direction. Here in Berlin, I have found they were wrong on every count. Continue reading
German government working carefully on phasing out nuclear power
Germany beefs up monitoring of nuclear shutdown, Google News By JUERGEN BAETZ, Associated Press 24 May 12, BERLIN (AP) — The German government will more closely oversee the country’s move from nuclear power to renewable energy, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday — a mammoth 10-year project for Europe’s biggest economy that has been going slowly so far.
Merkel said she will be meeting with all of Germany’s 16 state governors twice a year to take stock of the transformation’s progress and shortcomings, stressing that everything must be done to avoid blackouts and ensure affordable energy. Continue reading
Germany to be nuclear free within 10 years
includes VIDEO http://www.todaysthv.com/news/article/210528/288/Germany-plans-to-go-nuclear-free-within-a-decade Germany plans to go nuclear free within a decade, May 10, 2012 “…. Protest against nuclear energy in Germany began shortly after the Fukushima disaster in 2011 and Berlin reacted. After a safety review Angela Merkel’s government decided to shut down eight of Germany’s 17 reactors immediately and abandon nuclear energy altogether by 2022. She says, “We want to make sure that our power supply is safe,” Merkel said. “But at the same time it must be reliable.”
Germany’s answer is renewables! Aside from solar power, the country embarked on an ambitious quest to build dozens of off shore wind parks with thousands of turbines in the North and Baltic Seas. Most of the assembly happens in the northern town of Bremerhaven and local officials say the rush into renewables has led to an economic boom here. Nils Schnorrenberger says, “We had an unemployment rate of 25 per cent six years ago. Now it is 14 per cent and the companies gave 2000 people jobs just here in Bremerhaven.”..
. Ever since the Chernobyl disaster, Germans have had a troubled relationship with
nuclear energy with regular protests against new plants and nuclear waste transports. Since Fukushima, however, the country’s decision to quit atomic power seems irreversible, even in the face of challenges and uncertainties ahead. http://www.todaysthv.com/news/article/210528/288/Germany-plans-to-go-nuclear-free-within-a-decade
The history of Germany’s anti nuclear movement
The Germans also had an anti-nuke party as of 1980, namely the Greens, who carried the concerns of the mass movement into the national parliament, the Bundestag. No other country in the world has had a force so determined and influential in taking on the powerful atomic energy lobby.
From Advocates to Enemies: Nuclear Decline in Germany World Policy Blog May 10, 2012 -By Paul Hockenos “……….it wasn’t until the early 1970s when protests broke out in Germany’s southwestern-most corner that Germans began looking twice at the nuclear power facilities and waste repositories in their backyards. The anti-nuclear energy movement was born in the wine-growing region of the Black Forest abutting the borders of Switzerland and France’s Alsace-Loraine. There, in the tiny hamlet of Wyhl, the area’s staunchly conservative farmers, joined by left-wing activists from the nearby university city of Freiburg, as well as concerned French and Swiss citizens, organized to stop the construction of a planned reactor.
The Wyhl coalition bore many of the characteristics that would define the movement for years to follow: It was locally led, politically diverse, and committed to non-violent civil disobedience. Initially, the farmers’ objection was that the steam clouds from the reactor’s cooling towers would block the sun light in their vineyards, not that radioactivity as such was a hazard. This changed as the community learned more about the health effects of low-level radiation, such as that produced by nuclear power plants on pregnant women in their vicinity.
Against all odds, the Wyhl coalition forced the utility giant to back down and scrap its plans. Continue reading
The world watches as renewables succeed in Germany, as nuclear power fades
A vast majority of Germans have made up their minds on the need to phase out nuclear. And what happens in Germany will be a major indicator for other countries….. The world is watching Germany’s Energiewende.”Germany: Fighting Climate Change And Phasing Out Nuclear Power Are Two Sides Of The Same Coin Think Progress, Apr 27, 2012 by Arne Jungjohann Recently, the editorial board of the Washington Post asked if the world can fight global warming without nuclear power, looking to Germany and Japan for the answer.Both countries are known for a nuclear shutdown path. In Japan, only one of the 54 nuclear reactors currently remains in operation. Germany has closed eights reactors following the nuclear catastrophe of Fukushima in March 2011 and the remaining nine are scheduled to be closed by 2022.
That obviously must lead to rising emissions, the Post claims. …. If you look at the most recent emissions data, however, the opposite is happening. Germany reduced its carbon emissions in 2011 by 2.1 percent despite the nuclear phase out. How can that be? Continue reading
Germany needs to make sure that nuclear companies pay for nuclear decommissioning
Germany open to nuclear shutdown fund – minister Greenpeace calls for state to run nuclear dismantling fund
* Environment minister says Greenpeace proposal can be examined
* Major utilities reject idea
DUESSELDORF, Germany, April 11 (Reuters) – Germany would consider ringfencing billions of euros to be put aside by utilities for disposing of radioactive waste, the environment minister said, to ensure decommissioning of the country’s nuclear power plants is completed decades from now. He was speaking on Wednesday in response to a call from environmental group Greenpeace that wants the government to administer some of the money earmarked for nuclear decommissioning.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision last year, following Japan’s nuclear plant disaster, to phase out nuclear power by 2022 has thrown big utilities on the defensive, weakening their finances and forcing them to rethink their business models.
Germany’s top four nuclear operators – E.ON, RWE , EnBW and Swedish’s Vattenfall – are footing the bill to dismantle the plants and dispose of radioactive waste. They have already made provisions of more than 30 billion euros ($39.3 billion).
Managing the disposal of waste will take decades after the last nuclear plant is due to shut in 2022 and Greenpeace fears that the companies may not be able to honour their obligations in the future or could try to wriggle out of them.
Parking the companies’ money in a separate state-run fund would protect German taxpayers should one or more of the firms become insolvent, Greenpeace said. “This is an idea that can be examined,” Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen told Reuters on Wednesday, adding it was clear that the operators of nuclear plants were responsible for dismantling them. ”We need to look at whether a combined fund is a better solution than relying on individual responsibility,” he added.
Greenpeace has also called for provisions to be raised to 44 billion euros. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/11/germany-nuclear-idUSL6E8FB2XT20120411
Success of solar photovoltaic power is worrying utility companies
Why power generators are terrified of solar http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/03/27/why-generators-are-terrified-of-solar/ Crikey.com by Giles Parkinson, of RenewEconomy, 28 March 12, “….. the merit order effect and the impact that solar is having on electricity prices in Germany; and why utilities there and elsewhere are desperate to try to rein in the growth of solar PV in Europe. It may also explain why Australian generators are fighting so hard against the extension of feed-in tariffs in this country….. that solar PV is not just licking the cream off the profits of the fossil fuel generators — as happens in Australia with a more modest rollout of PV — it is in fact eating their entire cake…..
Deutsche Bank solar analyst Vishal Shah noted in a report last month that EPEX data was showing solar PV was cutting peak electricity prices by up to 40%, a situation that utilities in Germany and elsewhere in Europe were finding intolerable. “With Germany adopting a drastic cut, we expect major utilities in other European countries to push for similar cuts as well,” Shah noted.
Analysts elsewhere said one quarter of Germany’s gas-fired capacity may be closed, because of the impact of surging solar and wind capacity. Enel, the biggest utility in Italy, which had the most solar PV installed in 2011, highlighted its exposure to reduced peaking prices when it said that a €5/MWh fall in average wholesale prices would translate into a one-third slump in earnings from the generation division……
Utility losing interest in investing in nuclear power
E.ON says its commitment to nuclear is fading LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) – German utility E.ON , which together with rival RWE plans to build new nuclear plants in Britain, said on Wednesday its appetite for investing in nuclear power had slowed down.
“Our appetite to boost nuclear with great energy has become smaller,” said board member Klaus-Dieter Maubach during the company’s 2011 results conference…. time and cost overruns at new nuclear plants in Finland and France….. E.ON posted a net loss of 2.22 billion euros in 2011 as it was hit by Germany’s decision to shut down its oldest nuclear plants in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima accident and losses in its gas business.
Germany’s prosperity with wind and solar feed-in tariffs
Energy production using fossil and nuclear fuels is penalised in Germany by virtue of the Renewable Energy Act, which guarantees higher prices for generators of electricity sourced from wind and solar through feed-in-tariffs.
Today Germany has over 150 million solar panels installed or 25,000MW,
Germany has the wind at its back, MATTHEW WRIGHT, ABC 9 FEB 2012, Germany is currently the world-leader in installing renewable energy THE recent clinching of a $1.9 billion Australian defence contract by the Germans illustrates to carbon price knockers that they need look no further for proof that an economy which relies on renewable energy can outsmart one dependent on fossil fuels.
Germany’s electricity sector delivers 21 per cent of its power from renewable sources, such as the wind and the sun. …..
what of Germany, which finds itself at the epicenter of the EU debt maelstrom?
How is it possible that a nation shouldering the lion’s share of bailing out Europe’s basket-case economies has its finances in the best shape ever in two decades?
The yearly German unemployment rate keeps falling and at 6.7 per cent in January was the lowest since reunification. The Berlin based BGA Exporters and Wholesalers group estimated total German exports hit a record $US1.3 trillion last year.
This is hardly a picture of an economy that has been struggling under the impost of a carbon cost and renewable energy subsidies.
Energy production using fossil and nuclear fuels is penalised in Germany by virtue of the Renewable Energy Act, which guarantees higher prices for generators of electricity sourced from wind and solar through feed-in-tariffs.
The legislation has encouraged a phenomenal uptake of solar roof panels for a nation that hardly boasts sunny weather. ….
Critics who claim that pricing carbon using feed-in-tariffs, taxes or emissions trading is somehow linked to an underperforming economy and high jobless rates ought to be silenced by Germany’s success in bursting that myth.
And if the proof in the pudding is not enough for the naysayers, they could look to volumes of published material demonstrating that the early costs of encouraging renewable energy benefit an economy in a matter of years.
Respected energy experts Dr Wolfram Krewitt and Dr Joachim Nitsch’s published research while at the German Aerospace Centre that is regularly cited to drive home this point.
In a peer reviewed paper they wrote: “While the success of the German Renewable Energy Sources Act in supporting the use of renewable energy sources for electricity generation is widely acknowledged, it is partly criticised for imposing unjustified extra costs on society.
“[This] paper makes an attempt to estimate the external costs avoided in the German energy system due to the use of renewable energies for electricity generation, and to compare them against the compensation to be paid by grid operators for electricity from renewable energies according to the Renewable Energy Sources Act.
“… [R]esults clearly indicate that the reduced environmental impacts and related economic benefits do outweigh the additional costs for the compensation of electricity from renewable energies,” Krewitt and Nitsch concluded.
Another misleading argument renewable energy doubters like to peddle is that the rise in renewable energy use and the reduction in coal use is only possible in economies that also have a nuclear sector, to supply supposedly ‘reliable’ electricity when ‘the sun don’t shine and the wind don’t blow’.
Germany also recently burst this myth…..http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2012/02/09/3426757.htm
Court rules that Germany’s nuclear fuel tax is legal
EON, RWE Retreat After German Court Backs Nuclear Fuel Tax Bloomberg, By Stefan Nicola and Karin Matussek – Jan 12, 2012 EON AG (EOAN) and RWE AG (RWE), Germany’s biggest utilities, fell in Frankfurt trading after a court said the country’s nuclear fuel tax
didn’t break the law.
EON dropped 1.3 percent to 16.45 euros after a tax court in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg upheld the levy in two interim rulings against plaintiff EnBW Energie Baden- Wuerttemberg AG, the country’s third-largest utility. RWE slipped 0.7 percent while EnBW slid 2.6 percent….
… Germany’s utilities are cutting costs and selling assets to curb losses related to the government’s decision to exit nuclear power by 2022. The shutdown of the country’s eight oldest reactors, as well as the nuclear fuel tax, drafted in 2010, cut EON’s earnings by 2.3 billion euros ($3 billion) in 2011, Chief Financial Officer Marcus Schenck said in November.
The judges didn’t share the legal analysis by courts in Munich and Hamburg, which had ruled in favor of EON and RWE over the tax. The divergence in rulings will be resolved once Germany’s top tax court mades its judgement.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-12/eon-rwe-retreat-after-german-court-backs-nuclear-fuel-tax.html
Solar energy boom in Germany helps lower prices
German Solar Boom Continues, As Subsidies Disappear, German Solar Stays On Top, Green Chip Stocks, By Abhishek Shah, January 8th, 2012 The German Solar Energy Market is biggest in the world and has installed the largest number of solar panels for the last few years. 2012 promises to be no different with Germany again set to the biggest solar market for solar panel manufacturers though Italy would give good competition.
The German Solar Subsidy program has been the best in the world unlike the start and stop feed in tariff programs of Spain,Czech,UK,Australia and other places. A stable step in cut of feed in tariffs has helped solar energy prices coming down by more than 50% in the last few years though demand has only increased.
The influx of cheap solar panels from China has let the December 2012 explode to almost 2-3 GW according to the German solar association BSW. The high rates of return of over 10% due to super cheap Chinese solar panels at 80-90c/watt has been the major reason for the explosion in demand which could be the biggest month in Germany ever. While German Solar Market has remained robust as ever,the German solar panel producers like Solon, Sunways have been vanquished with a number of major solar companies failing and getting acquired. The Asian solar companies have been the major beneficiaries of this demand growth in Germany and Europe.
The massive rise in demand will imply that according to the EEG ,there will be a 15% cut in July 2012 after a 15% cut in January 2011. This would bring the solar FIT prices quite low and provide a restraint to the galloping German solar energy installations which is reaching more than 25 GW . http://www.greenchipstocks.com/articles/german-solar-boom-continues/1475
Renewable energy: Germany shows the way in new industrial revolution
Feldheim has zero unemployment ..
the technology already exists to allow people to be energy self-sufficient.
All eyes on German renewable energy efforts SF Gate, By MELISSA EDDY, Associated Press, December 29, 2011 “……Feldheim, a village of just 145 people, is already putting into practiceGermany’s vision of a future powered entirely by renewable energy……
In June, the nation passed the 20 percent mark for drawing electric power from a mix of wind, solar and other renewables. That compares with about 9 percent in the United States or Japan — both of which rely heavily on hydroelectric power, an energy source that has long
been used.
Expanding renewables depends on the right mix of resources, as well as government subsidies and investment incentive — and a willingness by taxpayers to shoulder their share of the burden. Germans currently pay a 3.5 euro cent per kilowatt-hour tax, roughly euro157 ($205) per year for a typical family of four, to support research and investment in and subsidize the production and consumption of energy from renewable sources.
That allows for homeowners who install solar panels on their rooftops, or communities like Feldheim that build their own biogas plants, to be paid above-market prices for selling back to the grid, to ensure that their investment at least breaks even……
Key to success of the transformation will be getting the nation’s powerful industries on board, to drive innovation in technology and create jobs. According to the Environment Ministry, overall investment in renewable energy production equipment more than doubled to euro29.4
billion ($38.44 billion) in 2011. Solid growth in the sector is projected through the next decade.
Some 370,000 people in Germany now have jobs in the renewable sector, more than double the number in 2004, a point used as proof that tax payers’ investment is paying off…… Continue reading
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