Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 132 posts

Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#31

Post by euroclydon »

crusso wrote: post #9

I heard at a power conference last week that Germany halted installation of new solar panels on homes recently due to the problems integrating solar onto the grid. As the lecturer put it: We've spent the last hundred years building systems to safely and reliably send power on a one-way trip from the utilities to businesses and homes. Modifying the electrical distribution system to be multi-directional is not an easy…

The concept is called High Penetration Solar and there are many challenges. Check out the group of links at the bottom of this page:

https://solarhighpen.energy.gov/topics

Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#32

Post by exDM69 »

nattofriends wrote: post #15
zerostar07 wrote: post #14

In terms of renewables, i think Norway and Brazil are higher up there, with 85% and 95% of their energy coming from renewable sources such as hydroelectic plants. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Brazil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Norway

Hydroelectric power is not something all countries are lucky enough to have.

Hydroelectric power is not very environmentally friendly either. Like the giant dams of China that destroy the whole ecosystem near the power plant.

Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#33

Post by bhousel »

mtgx wrote: post #19
crusso wrote: post #9

I heard at a power conference last week that Germany halted installation of new solar panels on homes recently due to the problems integrating solar onto the grid. As the lecturer put it: We've spent the last hundred years building systems to safely and reliably send power on a one-way trip from the utilities to businesses and homes. Modifying the electrical distribution system to be multi-directional is not an easy…

I was surprised the energy they get from wind is more than twice what they get from solar. Isn't Germany like a good country for solar? Also, this is the first time I see that they want to get only 35% of the energy from renewables by 2035. So they want to improve it only by 10% in the next 23 years? That's sounds like a very small improvement in a lot of time. I thought their original goal was 40% as renewable energ…

Germany's solar insolation is actually not good at all.. See maps here: http://www.soda-is.com/eng/map/maps_for_free.html

They actually get about the same amount of sun as northern Canada. Which makes their commitment to solar and other renewable energy even more impressive. If solar can work in Germany, it can work anywhere.

Here is a pretty good article from earlier this year: http://greenmien.knowledgemosaic.com/2012/01/11/germany-puts...

Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#34

Post by nkoren »

exDM69 wrote: post #24
ralfd wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nuclear power is not counted as "renewable" in Germany. So this number will only go up.

You're right. Or actually we're both wrong. Coal is not renewable either, so replacing nuclear with coal megawatt-per-megawatt is going to keep the number at present levels. However, greenhouse gases and other nasty emissions will go up if you start burning coal instead of splitting atoms. I will not open the can of worms about nuclear waste vs. greenhouse gases.

Nope, you're still wrong. What will go up is emissions, as nuclear is replaced with coal. However the percentage of renewables will continue to rise, as new wind and solar is installed. It's just a bit curious that for a while, at least, emissions and renewables percentage will both be rising simultaneously.

Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#35

Post by Anechoic »

mtgx wrote: post #19
crusso wrote: post #9

I heard at a power conference last week that Germany halted installation of new solar panels on homes recently due to the problems integrating solar onto the grid. As the lecturer put it: We've spent the last hundred years building systems to safely and reliably send power on a one-way trip from the utilities to businesses and homes. Modifying the electrical distribution system to be multi-directional is not an easy…

I was surprised the energy they get from wind is more than twice what they get from solar. Isn't Germany like a good country for solar? Also, this is the first time I see that they want to get only 35% of the energy from renewables by 2035. So they want to improve it only by 10% in the next 23 years? That's sounds like a very small improvement in a lot of time. I thought their original goal was 40% as renewable energ…

Isn't Germany like a good country for solar?

Looking at this map, is does not appear so: http://www.alternative-energy-resources.net/solarenergydisad...

Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#36

Post by [deleted] »

mtgx wrote: post #19
crusso wrote: post #9

I heard at a power conference last week that Germany halted installation of new solar panels on homes recently due to the problems integrating solar onto the grid. As the lecturer put it: We've spent the last hundred years building systems to safely and reliably send power on a one-way trip from the utilities to businesses and homes. Modifying the electrical distribution system to be multi-directional is not an easy…

I was surprised the energy they get from wind is more than twice what they get from solar. Isn't Germany like a good country for solar? Also, this is the first time I see that they want to get only 35% of the energy from renewables by 2035. So they want to improve it only by 10% in the next 23 years? That's sounds like a very small improvement in a lot of time. I thought their original goal was 40% as renewable energ…

[deleted]

Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#37

Post by tjoff »

zerostar07 wrote: post #14

In terms of renewables, i think Norway and Brazil are higher up there, with 85% and 95% of their energy coming from renewable sources such as hydroelectic plants. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Brazil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Norway

In terms of production, Norway has over 99%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Norway

Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#38

Post by ZoFreX »

zerostar07 wrote: post #14

In terms of renewables, i think Norway and Brazil are higher up there, with 85% and 95% of their energy coming from renewable sources such as hydroelectic plants. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Brazil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Norway

95% of energy production is hydro or nuclear in Switzerland, which depending on your views on nuclear either makes them very progressive or terrible.

Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#39

Post by hendrik-xdest »

crusso wrote: post #9

I heard at a power conference last week that Germany halted installation of new solar panels on homes recently due to the problems integrating solar onto the grid. As the lecturer put it: We've spent the last hundred years building systems to safely and reliably send power on a one-way trip from the utilities to businesses and homes. Modifying the electrical distribution system to be multi-directional is not an easy…

I think this is related to statistics regarding how fast the power grid can be expanded in relation to how fast it has to expand. Can't find any news items on this, though.

There are not enough land lines to transport the energy that is created in wind farms to the parts of Germany that need it, for example. Seems Germany is missing about 4500 power grid kilometers to supply every household.

I'm not completely sure if that is in anyway related to the big players in nuclear energy who won't allow the use of their networks. Could be it's just the basic infrastructure missing. However, it's probably crucial to hook up big wind parks first.

Try searching for Energiewende on the matter, maybe.

Re: Renewables now account for 25% of German energy production

#40

Post by exDM69 »

nkoren wrote: post #34
exDM69 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right. Or actually we're both wrong. Coal is not renewable either, so replacing nuclear with coal megawatt-per-megawatt is going to keep the number at present levels. However, greenhouse gases and other nasty emissions will go up if you start burning coal instead of splitting atoms. I will not open the can of worms about nuclear waste vs. greenhouse gases.

Nope, you're still wrong. What will go up is emissions , as nuclear is replaced with coal. However the percentage of renewables will continue to rise, as new wind and solar is installed. It's just a bit curious that for a while, at least, emissions and renewables percentage will both be rising simultaneously.

> However the percentage of renewables will continue to rise, as new wind and solar is installed.

True, but not related to replacing nuclear with mostly coal and other fossil fuels. If the trend of solar power and other renewable sources of energy continues, the percentage of power produced that way will, of course, go up.

Post reply on HN