Environment & Energy

kristopher

(29,798 posts) Mon Mar 19, 2012, 02:34 PM Mar 2012

Small-Town Solar Revolution Has Created Jobs Galore & Driven Down Price of Power in Germany

Small-Town Solar Revolution Has Created Jobs Galore & Driven Down Price of Power in Germany
MARCH 19, 2012 BY ZACHARY SHAHAN

Solar energy policies in Germany have resulted in a jobs boom and have driven down the price of power on the EPEX Power Exchange. More people work in Germany’s solar energy sector than in its coal and nuclear sectors combined. (Don’t tell this year’s GOP candidates — they somehow think clean energy and green jobs is all just talk.) But there’s a lot more to get excited about than just jobs (even though those are pretty sweet).

Solar Energy Is (or Can Be) Community Energy
Solar energy can allow “the little guy” to power the country (well, a lot of little guys). “A small-town energy revolution is going on in Germany, with more than 100 rural communities becoming 100% renewable,” Craig Morris of Renewables International writes. The result? Money for electricity goes back into one’s own community, rather than out to some mega energy company. Even if that electricity were to cost you a bit more, it would go back into services and people in your community who would improve your life in other ways.

“Yes. Germany is replacing central-station plants that can only be run by large corporations with truly distributed renewable power. While Germany’s Big Four utilities make up around three quarters of total power generation, they only own seven percent of green power. Roughly three quarters of renewable power investments have been made by individuals, communities, farmers, and small and midsize enterprises.”

This is how clean energy can help individual citizens, of course, but it’s not necessarily how it’s done everywhere (i.e. in the U.S.).

“The US is slowly switching to renewables, but it is nearly completely shutting out the little guy, with...

http://cleantechnica.com/2012/03/19/small-town-solar-revolution-has-created-jobs-galore-driven-down-price-of-power-in-germany/

4 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Small-Town Solar Revolution Has Created Jobs Galore & Driven Down Price of Power in Germany (Original Post) kristopher Mar 2012 OP

All lies, nothing but lies!!! RegieRocker Mar 2012 #1

German electricity prices are rising, not falling Yo_Mama Mar 2012 #2

Your post has little to do with the OP. kristopher Mar 2012 #4

Germany isn't where the solar is... it only gives 3% of their energy txlibdem Mar 2012 #3

RegieRocker

(4,226 posts)

1. All lies, nothing but lies!!!

Reply to kristopher (Original post)

Mon Mar 19, 2012, 02:39 PM

Mar 2012

Yo_Mama

(8,303 posts)

2. German electricity prices are rising, not falling

Reply to kristopher (Original post)

Mon Mar 19, 2012, 09:40 PM

Mar 2012

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,816669,00.html
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,809529,00.html

I've been following the ongoing squabble, chiefly in the German-German press. They'll reach a compromise, but rising electricity prices in Germany are producing something of a backlash. Everything's a question of balance:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,809439,00.html

The RWI also expects the green energy surcharge on electricity bills to go up again soon. It is currently 3.59 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity, a number the German government had actually pledged to cap at 3.5 cents. But because of the most recent developments, RWI expert Frondel predicts that the surcharge will soon increase to 4.7 cents per kilowatt hour. For the average family, this would amount to an additional charge of about €200 a year, in addition to the actual cost of electricity. Solar energy has the potential to become the most expensive mistake in German environmental policy.

That article points out the expected costs per additional kwh from wind versus solar, and solar does not come out well. It's different for countries like Italy and Spain, of course.

This article explains what is happening - solar power peak is cutting peak pricing for German utilities:
http://cleantechnica.com/2012/03/01/german-utilities-fight-solars-cost-cutting-merit-order-effect/

But it is not translating to lower prices for consumers, because that excludes the cost of the subsidies and the extra cost of the backup power. Specifically, electricity prices for German households rose 7.3% last year:
http://www.london.diplo.de/Vertretung/london/en/04/__News/2012/ConsumerPrices.html

They are going to have to go up again this year. This is from 2010, and it shows just how fast German household electricity prices are increasing:
http://www.diw.de/sixcms/media.php/73/diw_wr_2011-06.pdf

Current:
http://www.energy.eu/#Domestic-Elec
The EEG (renewables tariff) was 14.4% of Geman household electricity prices. It's going to have to go up to over 4 Euros very soon. In 2010 it was 2.05 Euros.

Germans are very willing to pay more for "clean" energy, but within limits. They're not all rich by any means. This rather exhaustively complete BDEW review of 2011 and forecast for 2012 states that only 14% of the PV cost of production was covered by market pricing, so the rest (86%) came from subsidies. There's a regional breakdown of renewables by Land that shows how much of the PV power is installed in relatively light usage areas, which is one of the grid problems.

http://www.bdew.de/internet.nsf/id/3564E959A01B9E66C125796B003CFCCE/$file/BDEW%20Energie-Info_EE%20und%20das%20EEG%20%282011%29_23012012.pdf

On page 65 there is a graph showing how much the EEG cost is projected to increase from 2011 to 2016. It's projected to increase by somewhere around 30%, even with planned subsidy cuts. But this does not include the cost of the infrastructure which must be put in place. I'm sure the more efficient marketing will help somewhat, but it is clear that the breaking point is close and that Germany will spend this year adapting. The infrastructure must be built for offshore wind, because they are netting much more and they are really committed to building and integrating those plants before they finish the nuclear plant closures. So it is not just the EEG subsidy that is an issue, but the funding for the transmission line network.

kristopher

(29,798 posts)

4. Your post has little to do with the OP.

Reply to Yo_Mama (Reply #2)

Mon Mar 19, 2012, 10:52 PM

Mar 2012

You are very good at presenting the point of view of the anti-renewable utilities, however, so for that I thank you.

Solar is pushing down the market price of electricity.

Is there a cost while they transition from one system to another, certainly. Can you lay that at the feet of renewables? No, you can't. That is squarely attributable to the uncontrolled externalized costs of fossil fuels and the centralized thermal energy system that has grown around them. The adaptive costs are due to the need to leave that system behind.

Solar energy can allow “the little guy” to power the country (well, a lot of little guys). “A small-town energy revolution is going on in Germany, with more than 100 rural communities becoming 100% renewable,” Craig Morris of Renewables International writes. The result? Money for electricity goes back into one’s own community, rather than out to some mega energy company. Even if that electricity were to cost you a bit more, it would go back into services and people in your community who would improve your life in other ways.

“Yes. Germany is replacing central-station plants that can only be run by large corporations with truly distributed renewable power. While Germany’s Big Four utilities make up around three quarters of total power generation, they only own seven percent of green power. Roughly three quarters of renewable power investments have been made by individuals, communities, farmers, and small and midsize enterprises.”

This is how clean energy can help individual citizens, of course, but it’s not necessarily how it’s done everywhere (i.e. in the U.S.).

txlibdem

(6,183 posts)

3. Germany isn't where the solar is... it only gives 3% of their energy

Reply to kristopher (Original post)

Mon Mar 19, 2012, 09:45 PM

Mar 2012

Electrical energy that is.

Solar panels need to be placed where the sun SHINES, where there are few cloudy days, rainy days, foggy days. That's the desert folks.

German companies are investing heavily in ventures with North African companies to purchase power from the Sahara Desert. American companies are putting solar farms in the deserts of CA, UT, NV, AZ, NM and Colorado. That is where the sun is. That is where the solar collectors should go.

Reply to this discussion