The Guardian on May 28, 2012 posted a story on solar power generation in Germany:
“German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity – equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity – through the midday hours of Friday and Saturday, the head of a renewable energy think tank has said.
“Germany’s 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. They will be replaced by renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and bio-mass.
“Norbert Allnoch, Director of the Institute of the Renewable Energy Industry in Muenster, said the 22 gigawatts of solar power fed into the national grid on Saturday met nearly 50 percent of the nation’s midday electricity needs.
“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.”
“The incentives provided through the state-mandated feed-in-tariff (Fit) are not without controversy, however. The tariff is the main support 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 kW/h on top of electricity prices in Germany that are already among the highest in the world, with consumers paying about 23 cents kW/h.
“German consumers pay about €4bn per year on top of their electricity bills for solar power, according to a 2012 report by the country’s environment ministry.”
Gary Reber Comments:
I publish an architectural magazine, Ultimate Home Design (www.ultimatehomedesign.com) that advocates responsible green building initiatives, with respect to on-site energy generation. I also built the greenest home in America, the Optimum Performance Home (http://www.ultimatehomedesign.com/oph.php).
The German model is the “Feed-In-Tariff” (TIF) and gives anyone who generates power from solar, wind, or hydro a guaranteed payment from the local power company. Local power companies are obliged to buy generated by solar, wind, and hydro home and small business installations.
Germany pioneered legislation, and other European countries––including Spain, Portugal, Greece, France, and Italy––are implementing similar legislation. At present, unfortunately, local power companies in the U.S. are not required to pay homeowners for the energy generated on-site beyond what the homeowners generate produce a “Zero Energy Home” (ZED) cost operation. Thus, homeowners with systems designed to generate excess electricity are not compensated. “Feed-In-Tariff” legislation, which offers cash incentives, will become the most important means we have to boost the solar and wind energy market, and significantly reduce our country’s dependence on foreign oil. Such legislation will make it lucrative for ordinary people to put solar systems on their roofs and wind turbines on their properties. The end result will produce a new class of homeowners who will be energy-independent and part of a network of clean energy producers.
Such policies, when implemented will provide a substantial amount of energy. We need to make the effort and advocate to our political leaders to pass the necessary legislation.
http://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/environment/2012/may/28/solar-power-world-record-germany
