Germany Records Historic 12B KWh Solar Feed-In in July 2026 • Hacker News Board

Re: Germany Records Historic 12B KWh Solar Feed-In in July 2026

#161

Post by eigenspace » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 6:42 PM UTC

astrobe_ wrote: post #143

eigenspace wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Renewables are replacing coal and nuclear simultaneously. Coal usage was consistently dropping before and continued to consistently drop after the nuclear phase out. I agree if coal was banned before nuclear, the new renewable capcacity added could have done more to replace a huge source of emissions faster. It was a failure of education, media, and political will that Germany phased out nuclear before coal. That doe…

According to [1], around 2022 nuclear was shut down, coal/lignite increased, imports increased, and consumption decreased - if I interpret those charts correctly. [1] https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/germanys-energy-c...

The slight consumption bump you see in 2021 for coal and lignite had more to do with overall energy consumption jumping in 2021 as the world economy came out of the pandemic.

If you look at the wider trajectory from 2018 to 2025, coal consumption dropped a bit more than normal in 2020, and rebounded a bit in 2021, but the actual trajectory is clear.

Yes, electricity imports increased, mostly from places with clean grids (including France, though less during the summer months where France had drought related shutdowns). I should have mentioned the increase in imports though, that was an important factor.

Re: Germany Records Historic 12B KWh Solar Feed-In in July 2026

#162

Post by abdullahkhalids » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 6:46 PM UTC

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #23

Rnonymous wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see this in so many sunny countries, which is such a shame. So what prevents you from just installing panels on your roof?

GDP per capita in Greece is €29,696, in Germany it is €65,303. Rich countries can afford to decarbonise more quickly.

Both Germany and Pakistan installed roughly 17 GW of new solar in 2025 [1,2]. Pakistan's GDP per capita is about €1500.

[1] https://janrosenow.substack.com/p/pakistan-the-solar-revolut...

[2] https://eu.globalsolar.store/news/78/germany-installs-175-gw...

Re: Germany Records Historic 12B KWh Solar Feed-In in July 2026

#163

Post by throwaway2037 » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 6:47 PM UTC

ricardobayes wrote: post #141

spwa4 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We won't stop pumping CO2 into the atmosphere (Germany, India and China actually increased coal burning in 2026, in all 3 cases despite all the good news about solar installations). Also we can't prevent fossil fuel producers from digging up fossil fuels. And, because of entropy, reducing CO2 already in the atmosphere is a non-starter. For one thing, one can reasonably assume that would at minimum require doubling hu…

Germany's output is almost irrelevant in this context: it amounts to a mere 1.4% of the global output. To add to that: there are no good alternatives to coal as the stabilizer in a renewables-fed grid, for Germany. They don't have hydro and don't have nuclear. Even Spain now runs some coal despite having near-100% renewable grid for a year. That big blackout was a big lesson for all grid operators. Please don't shame…

    > there are no good alternatives to coal as the stabilizer in a renewables-fed grid, for Germany.

Why not natural gas?

Re: Germany Records Historic 12B KWh Solar Feed-In in July 2026

#164

Post by mrob » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 6:47 PM UTC

hunterpayne wrote: post #135

eigenspace wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

German wind turbines largely don't come from China, but even if they did, the difference is that if China stopped selling us solar panels, batteries and wind turbines, the existing infrastructure would continue to function for decades to come while we work out a domestic replacement supply chain. This is in stark contrast to fossil fuels, where it's infeasible to stockpile more than a few months of usage, and if supp…

The rare earths do come from China and that's where most of the environmental damage they cause happens. Rare earths can be mined almost anywhere. They aren't rare but they also aren't concentrated because they aren't water soluble. They are mined in places that don't care about environmental damage, not in places where specific geologic conditions exist (like everything else except AL). Also, you need them to make g…

Big generators in power plants use alternators with field windings, not permanent magnets. Wind turbines use either permanent magnet generators or induction generators. Permanent magnets generators are more efficient, especially at low wind speeds, but we can do without them if necessary.

Re: Germany Records Historic 12B KWh Solar Feed-In in July 2026

#165

Post by eigenspace » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 6:47 PM UTC

f6v wrote: post #157

eigenspace wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

German wind turbines largely don't come from China, but even if they did, the difference is that if China stopped selling us solar panels, batteries and wind turbines, the existing infrastructure would continue to function for decades to come while we work out a domestic replacement supply chain. This is in stark contrast to fossil fuels, where it's infeasible to stockpile more than a few months of usage, and if supp…

> it'd spark a frenzy of activity and demand for locally produced replacements Now you're just being funny. The reason Chinese solar outcompeted European solar is because China can produce at a lower cost. Yeah, Germany could theoretically produce solar panels in required quantities. However, the price is going to be higher. Which means electricity is going to be more expensive. And expensive electricity is one of th…

The reason Chinese solar outcompeted European solar is partially that China has real lower costs, but was more because China had way way way more appetite for massive subsidies to dominate the market.

They took over the solar market from Germany after Germany foolishly stopped subsidizing it and almsot overnight killed the thriving domestic solar industry.

Chinas solar panels are almost surely being sold internationally for less than they cost to make. If China stopped selling them and domestic producers sprang back up using techniques they've learned from the ongoing solar panel 'recycling' programs, the domestic solar panels would surely be a lot more expensive than Chinese panels, but they'd also almost certainly be cheaper than fossil fuels, and would find a place in the market.

Besides, the cost of panels isn't even the expensive part of solar installations anymore. The expensive part is the land, grid connections, and installation labour.

Re: Germany Records Historic 12B KWh Solar Feed-In in July 2026

#166

Post by uecker » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 6:54 PM UTC

eigenspace wrote: post #148

hunterpayne wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is closing your nuclear plants working out for you? Germany burns the lowest grade coal known to man to make up for the loss of its nuclear fleet. Germany has one of the dirtiest grids in the world and the dirtiest grid in the developed world. And for reference, a single NPP makes roughly 600 GW hours of power a month. Germany closed down about 15 NPPs which would make several times as much power as the solar PV…

Wow, impressive velocity of bullshit claims, but I guess one has to grade on a curve, this is Hacker News of course. > Germany burns the lowest grade coal known to man to make up for the loss of its nuclear fleet. Renewables are replacing coal and nuclear simultaneously. Coal usage was consistently dropping before and has continued to consistently drop after the nuclear phase out. I agree if coal was banned before nu…

This seems too low by an order of magnitude. In 2021, nuclear power produced 69 TWh in Germany. For comparison, renewables produced 240 TWh in 2021 and 292 TWh in 2025. But I agree with your general point.

Re: Germany Records Historic 12B KWh Solar Feed-In in July 2026

#167

Post by throwaway2037 » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 6:55 PM UTC

f6v wrote: post #154

sajithdilshan wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be frank the best summer I’ve ever had in Berlin. Everyday warm and sunny and love it.

You get completely drenched in sweat if you take the metro or S-bahn even at 30 degrees. There's no AC there. It's just miserable to commute. Also, most buildings don't have shutters and are not designed even for high 20s. Berlin is an absolutely miserable place in this weather if you commute or just trying to sleep at night. Like, you can't efficiently cool the apartment down if it's 20 degrees at night and there's…

    > Like, you can't efficiently cool the apartment down if it's 20 degrees at night and there's no wind.

I don't get it. 20 degrees at night sounds lovely. Get a window fan and you will be golden.

Re: Germany Records Historic 12B KWh Solar Feed-In in July 2026

#168

Post by uecker » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 6:57 PM UTC

woodpanel wrote: post #133

hunterpayne wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For reference, that's about 4x the worldwide average electricity price.

Exactly. I'm starting to wonder how much higher our neighbors' prices are thanks to our excessive excess-energy emergency-dumping during green-energy peaks. How much of that "EU average" is "Germany as a cost externality for its neighbouring energy grids"?

How does "emergency-dumping" create cost to neighbors? But what you miss is that most of the EU now has a lot of renewables.

Re: Germany Records Historic 12B KWh Solar Feed-In in July 2026

#169

Post by ffsm8 » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 7:00 PM UTC

eigenspace wrote: post #151

f6v wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you can select any day, week, or month and the rail system in Germany will always be in chaos.

That was not generally true before the system upgrades started. It's been true for a while though. I didn't mean short-term bad timing, I mean it's bad that we're getting hit by increasing droughts in the same decade the train system hit its breaking point and needed fixing.

It's been true for at least 16 years though, admittedly - it's gotten even worse since Corona

Re: Germany Records Historic 12B KWh Solar Feed-In in July 2026

#170

Post by eigenspace » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 7:01 PM UTC

uecker wrote: post #166

eigenspace wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, impressive velocity of bullshit claims, but I guess one has to grade on a curve, this is Hacker News of course. > Germany burns the lowest grade coal known to man to make up for the loss of its nuclear fleet. Renewables are replacing coal and nuclear simultaneously. Coal usage was consistently dropping before and has continued to consistently drop after the nuclear phase out. I agree if coal was banned before nu…

This seems too low by an order of magnitude. In 2021, nuclear power produced 69 TWh in Germany. For comparison, renewables produced 240 TWh in 2021 and 292 TWh in 2025. But I agree with your general point.

The numbers I gave were only for the month of July, not the entire year since the commenter was comparing to the article's numbers for July and claiming that it would have dwarfed the power produced by solar.