GERMANY BUILDING NEW ENERGY TOO FAST

Germany Hits Brakes on Race to Renewable Energy Future

Charles Hawley, August 28, 2012 (Spiegel)

“The share of renewable energies in Germany's power mix has shot up so high that the electricity grid and the subsidy framework has been unable to keep up. Now, the government wants to slow down the process. German commentators say that the current chaos endangers the entire project.

“…Chancellor Angela Merkel… announced that Germany was turning away from nuclear power and…[her] government decided that by 2020 renewables would make up [an “impossible”] 35 percent share of the energy mix…”

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“…In the first half of 2012, the country generated fully 25 percent of its electricity needs via wind, solar and other alternative power sources. Doubts as to whether the 35 percent target is attainable have virtually vanished…[but new] problems have cropped up…

“…German consumers are faced with skyrocketing electricity bills and that the country's energy grid has suddenly become outdated…[O]ffshore windparks being built…off the country's north coast… are at a standstill, with no way to deliver the power they generate to the mainland…[and] the Renewable Energy Act, while it provides excellent incentives to build wind turbines, does not provide incentives to build the natural gas-fired power plants the country needs to fill the holes with the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing…”

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