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The German plan was to invest and heavily subsidize the construction of renewables, wind and solar, since that was declared the cheapest way to generate power.
by belorn 5y ago
The German plan was to invest and heavily subsidize the construction of renewables, wind and solar, since that was declared the cheapest way to generate power. Are you saying the actually plan by the CDU was all along to build a dependency on Russian gas, and only use renewables when the weather allowed it?
That seems like a terrible plan and quite expensive. Why was that the plan?
- cinntaile 5y agoGas is a temporary measure until renewables can stand on its own. Maybe some plants will stick around forever because peakers are nice to have, but the dependency should reduce over time.
- melling 5y agoWe’ve been waiting decades for renewables Coal for electricity globally is at record highs. https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/12/20/coal-fired-power-generation-set-to-hit-all-time-high-in-2021-iea.html https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/12/20/coal-fired-power-generat... it really appears that we aren’t going about this in an effective manner
- cinntaile 5y agoThat's not so surprising, total energy usage keeps increasing. Renewable energy only supplies a small part of that, but it's rapidly increasing.
- belorn 5y agoWaiting for a technology to be viable is risky and potentially very costly, and using Russia as your temporary measure without any alternatives seems like a irresponsible decision that should require public support. Did Germans actually want this, or was renewable presented to the public as something that already could stand on its own?
- cinntaile 5y agoThey're aware. Merkel didn't want to close the nuclear power plants but was forced to shift policy after Fukushima due to public pressure. Germany's policies basically made solar and wind a viable option for everyone from a cost perspective, it wasn't when they started and took the leap. All in all, they knew.