The Secret Behind Germany’s Record Renewables Buildout | As most countries struggle to install clean energy fast enough, Germany tackled the industry’s toughest problem: slow permitting.
The Secret Behind Germany’s Record Renewables Buildout | As most countries struggle to install clean energy fast enough, Germany tackled the industry’s toughest problem: slow permitting.
As most countries struggle to install clean energy fast enough, Germany tackled the industry’s toughest problem: slow permitting.
When I think of cutting red tape, no unnecessary bullshit bureaucracy and fast acting government, I don't usually think of Germany. What happened?
45The greens got to design some legislation
63And the conservatives attack them on every front because of how much they stir up things - it's so sad how well that propaganda works...
47
As a German: me neither.
11They got paranoid about nuclear and closed down all their nuclear plants. They intensified fossil fuel power production because they didn't have enough renewable power. Then prices went up due to the war end they had an oh shit moment.
3This says otherwise. While coal (hard coal+lignite) use had been slightly elevated in 2022, it is already below the level of 2019 now. Natural gas use is mostly for household heating, which is usually non-electric in older houses in Germany, so there is some weather related fluctuation there. There are some gas powered electricity plants for emergency use, but they are only fired if there is no other way.
2
The slow permitting is often by design. The fossil fuel companies are in a lot of governments' pockets.
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that sounds very conspiratory. "they up there are out to get you" if you know what I mean
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The other way around. A lot of governments in fossil fuel companies' pockets (https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/in-someones-pocket)
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Some regulation changed, and that is great. It is now much easier than before to put a photo voltaic installation on your roof that has a peak energy production above 10 kWp. That used to be the magic barrier beyond which things would get drastically more complicated, beaurocracy wise. Tax hell, basically. So that is gone now, and my SO and me installed a 25 kWp installation on our roof because of it. But let me tell you: it took six month just to get it connected to the net. The local energy net provider did not manage to swap our meter for a two-way meter for six months. We were able to power our home with it, but we could not provide any power to the net. Just because that company was too stupid to click a button somewhere to send instructions to another company to swap that energy meter. That other company was here on an unrelated job a month after our PV installation was done, and I asked them about it. They told me they could theoretically do it right away, but they had no order to do it, so they couldn't.
On the other hand, very small installations ("balcony power stations") are popping up everywhere, the kind that are 600-800 Watts and plug right into your power outlet. In theory, when installing them, you should fill out a form to give your power provider the chance to swap your meter so it doesn't run backwards when you're not using all the power, but nobody I know ever does that. I am guessing that that also has quite a bit of effect on our power mix.
2Bloomberg - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for Bloomberg:
MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: Mostly Factual - United States of America
Wikipedia about this source-11Doesn’t help that they decommissioned all their nuclear plants
-20It doesnt help the "Record Renewables Buildout"?
No, actually it helped a lot.I can't believe that Germany is being attacked for creating more renewable, clean energy. I mean, go against those dirty coal mining that is still left, that would be fair.
But an outcry because of the expansion of renewable energies? This is just "Ahrrggg... Germany energy politics bad, BAMM BAMM BAMM."
Please find an actual issue to be angry and shouting about.
22
What "desperation because you dismantled all your other stable power sources before having an alternative because oh nooo nukular scary" does to a mf
-37Always the same bullshit. No, Germany got out of nuclear because it's simply not economically viable. You can delude yourself all you want, that shit is not coming back.
33Not economically viable to build new, yes. But to run existing ones until they need major renovations?
Like they already built the damn things. It would be wasteful to just shut them down, especially if replaced with coal and gas.
Or could you provide me with some sources on why running existing nuclear plants is too expensive?
8Germany got out of nuclear because it’s simply not economically viable.
Factually incorrect. Germany began the process of shuttering all their nuclear plants as a knee-jerk response to the Fukushima disaster in 2011..
" The nuclear disaster in Fukushima on 11 March 2011 was the cause for the vote in the German Bundestag - and the subsequent decision to phase out nuclear power. "
They had no renewables replacement plan in place when they made this decision- they mostly just bought power from the euro grid as a stop gap (and france's nuclear reactors, lmfao) until they built their own gas plants.
They replaced it with natural gas fired combined cycle plants that - conveniently! - were fuelled with Russian gas. Gas that they were desperately dependent on, and gas that instantly disappeared when flows were cut off in 2022 due to Ukraine's invasion. Extremely short sighted decision at best, actively stupid and likely sponsored by Russia at worst.
I am glad they are building out renewable capacity, but it's only under duress and explicitly in reaction to a huge energy and economic crisis of their own making by being stupidly shortsighted.
0
But you know what? It's working for us mfs.
21The biggest problem I see about nuclear apart from it being extremely slow to build even if permitting is not holding things up is that it's just relying on another non-renewable resource.
10