Germany’s held up as the world’s wind and solar capital. But, at the moment, the ‘green’ stuff can’t be purchased, at any price.
Its millions of solar panels are blanketed in snow and ice and breathless, freezing weather is encouraging its 30,000 wind turbines to do absolutely nothing, at all. [Note to Ed: don’t forget about the constant supply of electricity from the grid that these things chew up heating their internal workings so they don’t freeze up solid!]
So much for the ‘transition’ to an all wind and sun powered future – aka the ‘Energiewende’.
Despite being the object of consternation and much vilification over the last 20 years, Germany’s coal-fired plants are now being appreciated for what they are: truly meaningful power generation sources, available on demand, whatever the weather. With a Nationwide blackout a heartbeat away, the German obsession with unreliable wind and solar is like a time bomb set to explode.
NoTricksZone reports on Germany’s (needs driven) change of heart.
Berlin On The Brink! Winter Blackouts Loom As Coal Plants Run At 100% Capacity, Struggle To Keep Lights On In
No Tricks Zone
Pierre Gosselin
28 January 2021
Germany now finds itself in the dead of winter. Much of the country has seen considerable snowfall, meaning solar panels are often covered by snow and thus rendered useless. Even without snow cover, the weeks-long overcast sky prevents any noteworthy solar power generation.
Moreover, this winter there have been many long windless periods, and so Germany’s approx. 30,000 wind turbines have been largely out of operation. In a world 100% reliant on green energies, this would mean near 100% darkness at home.
Luckily Germany’s still existing coal and nuclear power infrastructure is (still) there to step in and keep the power on and the country running. This has been the case for Berlin this winter an RBB German television report reveals:
German RBB (Berlin-Brandenburg) public broadcasting recently aired a report (above) on the region’s winter energy woes titled: “Germany’s green energies strained by winter.”
Coal to the rescue
The report acknowledges that all the power is “currently coming mainly from coal, and the power plants in Lausitz” are now “running at full capacity”.
Strangely the RBB report has been taken down from the archives, yet is fortunately available on YouTube thanks to wind energy protest group Vernunftkraft.de.
In the report Daniel Bartig, a mechanic at the LEAG Lausitz plant, tells RBB he is skeptical that green energy can do the job, and says “the greatest share of power is currently coming from coal.”
Green energies will not keep pace with demand
Next in the report, RBB interviews Harald Schwarz, professor of power distribution at the University of Cottbus, who tells RBB he’s very skeptical of wind and solar energy doing the job. As Germany moves to shut down its reliable nuclear and coal power plants, the gap between supply and demand will grow dangerously wide.
Physical reality “totally neglected” by policymakers
According to Prof. Schwarz:
With this supply of wind and photovoltaic energy, it’s between 0 and 2 or 3 percent – that is de facto zero. You can see it in many diagrams that we have days, weeks, in the year where we have neither wind nor PV. Especially this time for example – there is no wind and PV, and there are often times when the wind is very miniscule. These are things, I must say, that have been physically established and known for centuries, and we’ve simply totally neglected this during the green energies discussion.”
Will have to rely on foreign energy in the future
RBB then warns of the increased odds of blackouts for the region, like the blackout in Berlin in 2019.
So what will happen in the future?
The reporter says the plan is that Germany will have to rely more on natural gas (from Russia), coal power from Poland and nuclear power from France.
Green energy dumbness and obstinance on full public display.
No Tricks Zone
STOP THESE THINGS 
I still remember the winter of 1962-1963 in West-Germany … 😦
The River Rhine was frozen over … It’s so much nicer in Australia.
The tree huggers should have left things alone. Having lived in Germany for many years, I do not remember ever having power outages. Air pollution was negligible and the economy always held its own. The same problem is hitting the US now. Solar power and Wind power can not replace the power we have been using for generations.
I never understood Germany’s decision to close its nuclear power plants because of the Fukushima accident. What is the risk of a Tsunami in Germany? Earthquake? Minimal. This seams to be an emotional reaction with Luddite undertones. It is not worthy of a country with arguably one of the greatest engineering traditions in the world.
I’ll bet Angela Merkel’s house is cozy warm.
Why aren’t thorium salt reactors being built? We should have hundreds of them dotted throughout the US to provide cheap, safe power. The same goes for Europe, rather than depending on these stupid solar panels or the unsightly and wildlife destructive windmills.
Those unsightly windmills are ruining our rural landscapes. Instead of locating these windmills in rural areas, perhaps they should be located within the cities who purchase the power they generate. We have thousands of miles of beaches that have winds blow off the cold oceans. Perhaps those windmills should be relocated on those beaches.
The coal industry are seriously going to have to work out a way of cleaning up their act, whilst reducing emissions and airborne particulates. We NEED coal because it is so good at providing a reliable source of steady electrical supply to homes and industry. The ‘ruinable’ energy sharks are circling the pool with the false promise of reliable energy from an erratic, decentralised weather dependent system that only supplies power when it can be bothered to turn up.
Renewable energy. Power when it can be ARSED!
Even if it’s cold outside, Germans can bask in their inner-warmth generated by knowing that they are one of the most woke societies in the world and are doing all the most politically correct things. The gods of political correctness will smile on them and never let them get cold again, or wouldn’t they?
Political activism isn’t very good at keeping people warm.
Evanston used to burn garbage. I wonder if that would work, including fall leaves. Alice says we will be running out of oil, gas, and coal eventually. Maybe global warming will prevent using so much fossil fuels for electricity.
Would that be Alice in wonderland?
This is what happens when decisions are made based on an ideology instead of really looking at the science. The same thing is happening in Australia unfortunately.
Our German mainstream media hardly find superlatives anymore: It has gotten cold and snow has fallen, a lot of snow – and that in the middle of winter!
Russian whip (for the cold)
Snow roller (for the snow)
whereby the Alpine countries consider it normal.
I translated and reblogged it on https://www.eike-klima-energie.eu/
“Na sowas! Es ist Winter und die Windräder und die PV-Panels machen Pause – Deutsche würden ohne Kohlekraft verzweifeln”
Thank you
When I was living in Switzerland, I was surprised how mild their winters are compared to the winters in the Midwest of USA and the arctic air that pushes down through Canada. Even ski resorts were lacking enough snow and glaciers were melting. This year, maybe ski resorts will be doing better. But this is an unusual year for many.
Haaa ha haaa….that makes my day! And…I see Candice Owens will run for the top job…excellent.