Category: Germany

Pointless Part-Time Power: Germany’s Readily Available Wind Power Capacity Less Than 1% of Total Installed Capacity

  When it comes to actually delivering wind power, the real and the ideal are a gulf apart. In Australia, the average capacity factor (the ratio between actual output and nominal capacity) is just on 28% across the Eastern Grid, where 1,800 turbines with a total capacity of 5,100 MW have been speared across four … Continue reading Pointless Part-Time Power: Germany’s Readily Available Wind Power Capacity Less Than 1% of Total Installed Capacity

Renewables Rejected: More Countries Get Serious About Serious Power Generation

Countries serious about their economic prosperity are getting serious about serious power generation. Ontario, China and Japan have slashed subsidies and mandated targets for wind and solar; between them China and Japan are building hundreds of high-efficiency, low emissions coal-fired plant at home and even more across South-East Asia. Germany’s transition to an all wind … Continue reading Renewables Rejected: More Countries Get Serious About Serious Power Generation

Deutschland’s Delusion: Renewable Energy ‘Transition’ in Tatters – CO2 Targets Missed as Power Prices Spiral Out of Control

  Germany has a history of clinging to lost causes: its ‘inevitable’ transition to wind and solar is just the latest example. As Berlin was overrun by the Red Army in April 1945, Hitler and his loyal aides and commanders kidded themselves that the Reich might soon ride again. The Fuhrer and his newly wedded … Continue reading Deutschland’s Delusion: Renewable Energy ‘Transition’ in Tatters – CO2 Targets Missed as Power Prices Spiral Out of Control

Renewables Reckoning: German Business Being Throttled by Rocketing Power Prices

There’s something uncanny about the relationship between rocketing power prices and renewable energy: ask a German, Dane or South Australian. The consequences of Germany’s obsession with sunshine and breezes are starting to hit home, with a vengeance. Its economic backbone, referred to as the ‘Mittelstand’ (small to mid-size firms, either in family or private hands) … Continue reading Renewables Reckoning: German Business Being Throttled by Rocketing Power Prices

German Animal Lovers Boycott Wind Power: Vegans Incensed by Bloody Bird & Bat Slaughter

German vegans have mounted a boycott against wind power, incensed by the pointless and bloody slaughter of millions of birds and bats. Irony comes in many sizes and shapes, but the idea of one group of moralising zealots taking on another group of moralising zealots, is simply delicious (so to speak). The concept of carnivorous … Continue reading German Animal Lovers Boycott Wind Power: Vegans Incensed by Bloody Bird & Bat Slaughter

Merkel’s Muddle: Coal Keeps Powering On as Germany’s Renewable Energy Transition Implodes

  Germany’s ‘transition’ to wind and solar is a full-scale debacle: rocketing power prices and an unstable grid, the only tangible ‘results’. Anyone still talking about an ‘inevitable transition’ to nature’s wonder fuels, only needs to be reminded about the power pricing and supply calamity that is South Australia. As another example of what follows … Continue reading Merkel’s Muddle: Coal Keeps Powering On as Germany’s Renewable Energy Transition Implodes

German Wind Power Fails Again: Coal-Fired Power Prevents Return to Dark Ages

When it comes to wind and solar, no country went harder or faster than Germany. As they say though, act in haste, repent at your leisure. A grid on the brink of collapse and rocketing power prices is all that Germans have to show for their obsession about powering themselves with daily sunshine and occasional … Continue reading German Wind Power Fails Again: Coal-Fired Power Prevents Return to Dark Ages

Blackout Blueprint: German Study Reveals What Really Happens When Power Supplies Fail

Wind and solar ‘powered’ South Australians know what it is to do without power for days on end. Having experienced plenty of load shedding lasting for 5 hours or more, South Australians got a real taste of the dark ages in September 2016, when the whole State went black. A sudden collapse in wind power … Continue reading Blackout Blueprint: German Study Reveals What Really Happens When Power Supplies Fail

Germany’s Renewable Energy Disaster – Part 4: ‘Social Disaster’: Wind Turbines Wrecking Rural Communities

Germany’s wind and solar experiment has failed: the so-called ‘Energiewende’ (energy transition) has turned into an insanely costly debacle. German power prices have rocketed; blackouts and load shedding are the norm; and idyllic rural communities are now industrial wastelands (see above). Hundreds of billions of euros have been squandered on subsidies to wind and solar, all in … Continue reading Germany’s Renewable Energy Disaster – Part 4: ‘Social Disaster’: Wind Turbines Wrecking Rural Communities

Germany’s Renewable Energy Disaster – Part 3: Wind & Solar Deemed ‘Economic Nonsense’

Germany’s wind and solar experiment has failed: the so-called ‘Energiewende’ (energy transition) has turned into an insanely costly debacle. German power prices have rocketed; blackouts and load shedding are the norm; and once bucolic farmland has been turned into industrial wastelands (see above). Hundreds of billions of euros have been squandered on subsidies to wind and solar, … Continue reading Germany’s Renewable Energy Disaster – Part 3: Wind & Solar Deemed ‘Economic Nonsense’