Germany continues to make progress in using renewables, according to Bloomberg:
Clean power supplied almost all of Germany’s power demand for the first time on Sunday, marking a milestone for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “Energiewende” policy to boost renewables while phasing out nuclear and fossil fuels.
Solar and wind power peaked at 2 p.m. local time on Sunday, allowing renewables to supply 45.5 gigawatts as demand was 45.8 gigawatts, according to provisional data by Agora Energiewende, a research institute in Berlin. Power prices turned negative during several 15-minute periods yesterday, dropping as low as minus 50 euros ($57) a megawatt-hour, according to data from Epex Spot.
This has consequences:
Merkel’s unprecedented shift to clean energy has squeezed margins at coal and gas plants while driving up costs for consumers in Europe’s biggest power market. The increased flows of clean energy have also put pressure on the grid to the point that the country is considering excluding certain regions from future onshore wind power auctions if local grids are already struggling to keep up with large volumes of renewable energy supplies.
“If Germany was an island, with no export cables, this would be technically impossible because you always need to have some thermal generation running as a back up supply for when the wind or solar drops off,” [Monne Depraetere, an analyst for Bloomberg New Energy Finance] said.
Which is a reminder that we need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, but not necessarily eliminate them completely. They need to become a minor component of our energy strategy, not the main support system.
And in the United States? Courtesy the US Energy Information Agency:
In 2015, renewable energy sources accounted for about 10% of total U.S. energy consumption and about 13% of electricity generation.
(h/t my retired climate scientist friend)
