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What you call "aid from abroad" is generally called a functioning wide area synchronous grid (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_area_synchronous_grid https://e
by rob74 7mo ago
What you call "aid from abroad" is generally called a functioning wide area synchronous grid (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_area_synchronous_grid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_area_synchronous_grid) which covers most of the EU plus some Balkan states, Moldova, Ukraine, Turkey and the northwestern corner of Africa. So Germany can sell power to others when renewables are generating more than it needs (which is often), and import power, not necessarily because it couldn't produce it, but because importing it can be cheaper than e.g. starting up an additional backup plant. This is nothing special and has been working reliably for decades.
- sazz 7mo agoThat's right, Germany sells electricity to other countries during the day and buys electricity in the evening because there is no sun then. The problem is that other countries also have solar and wind power during the day and don't need this electricity at all. That's why Germany has to “sell” this surplus electricity, even though no one needs it. To ensure that the electricity is still "purchased", Germany has to pay money for it. In the evening, Germany has to pay money to buy back the missing electricity. Paying money to have something purchased is generally referred to as garbage fees.
- patall 7mo agoThat does not seem to be a long term problem. Wind and solar can be down regulated with ease (and within fractions of a second), a negative prices only happen because producers got a flat-fee per kWh which is pretty much phase-out now. The problem is rather that Germany (plus Luxembourg) is still a single price zone, i.e when wind is blowing in Hamburg, the per-kWh price in Passau is also nill. While this is nice for Bavaria (the main culprit, as usual), there is an enormous cost for this in the form of re-dispatch fees as long as the grid is not strengthened a lot.
- FrojoS 7mo agoThe main culprit as usual? They have been financing the whole gaga show for years.
- OKRainbowKid 7mo agoWhat gaga show? Bavarian industry is being subsidized via cheap electricity from the north, who in turn is paying higher prices than they would otherwise.
- FrojoS 7mo agoBavaria has been subsidizing the north for decades and yet you think you can betitle us? This is not just about electricity. We are talking about billions of EUR in transfers. The money is flowing one direction only. So called “solidarity” is a hard ask given this arrogance.
- bucephalos 7mo agoDont listen to Söder, he ate too many sausages which makes him spout nonsense constantly.
- FrojoS 7mo agoSöder merely repeated what Bavarians have been thinking and saying since when he still hadn't left Franken. I realise my post was unnecessary inflammatory and I'm sorry for that. Enough Internet for today.
- rob74 7mo agoThe money is flowing in one direction only now, but what the "Stammtisch" likes to forget is that Bavaria has benefited from transfers until as recently as 1992, and from 1950 to 1986 (36 years!) the money also flowed in only one direction - but the opposite one, from other states to Bavaria. (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A4nderfinanzausgleich#Finanzvolumen https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A4nderfinanzausgleich#Fin...)
- 7mo ago
- UltraSane 7mo agoI call buying French nuclear electricity after shutting down your own reactors hypocrisy.
- brnt 7mo agoI call it an opportunity. Let France built reactors on their borders (looking at you, Chooz) and earn money. What's the problem here? Everybody gets what they want.
- UltraSane 7mo agoThe problem is it makes Germany's decision to shut down their perfectly safe nuclear reactors completely pointless.
- brnt 7mo agoAgreed, but that's over a decade against now. Time to move on. If Germans just don't want nuclear in their back yard, but have now issue buying from France (soon Poland perhaps), then so be it.
- UltraSane 7mo agoThe need for cheap reliable electricity is eternal.
- OKRainbowKid 7mo agoNuclear reactors are about the most expensive way of producing energy. If you want cheap energy you certainly want to phase out nuclear, which is only viable with massive subsidies or externalities paid for by the tax payer.
- UltraSane 7mo agoRenewables have been built on the back of decades of subsidies, tax credits, mandated purchase obligations (RPSs), and net metering policies that shift integration costs to non-participants. Singling out nuclear here is intellectually dishonest unless you apply the same standard to all sources. A grid running 70%+ renewables needs massive storage, transmission overbuild, and firm backup capacity costs that don't appear in solar/wind LCOE figures but are real and substantial. Nuclear provides firm, dispatchable, carbon-free baseload with a ~90%+ capacity factor. Solar capacity factors are 20-30%, wind 30-45%. The OECD's 2020 Projected Costs study shows that at a 3% discount rate with a $30/ton carbon price, nuclear was the cheapest dispatchable option in most countries. Nuclear becomes comfortably cheaper than coal and gas under carbon pricing at low discount rates.