Going nuclear-free: Germany smashes solar power world record (PHOTOS)

[MindMover]

Germany’s solar power plants produced a record 22 gigawatts of energy on Friday, equivalent to the output of 20 nuclear plants. The country is already a world-leader in solar power and hopes to be free of nuclear energy by 2022.

The director of the Institute of the Renewable Energy Industry (IWR) in Muenster, northeast Germany, said the solar power delivered to the national grid on Saturday met 50 per cent of the nation’s energy quota.

"Never before anywhere has a country produced as much photovoltaic electricity. Germany came close to the 20 gigawatt (GW) mark a few times in recent weeks. But this was the first time we made it over," Norbert Allnoch told Reuters news agency.

The German government decided to turn its back on nuclear energy last year after the Fukushima disaster and plans to be nuclear-free by 2022. Critics have rounded on the initiative, skeptical that renewable sources can meet the nation’s growing energy needs.

http://www.rt.com/news/solar-energy-record-break-332/

[freshwest]

1. Good for them. Bet it was all done with union labor, as well.

[Harmony Blue]

2. With a bit of ingenuity

and dedication a lot can be accomplished. The United States has become the "can't do it" nation, mainly because of Republican narrative, as they want to live in the past glory days of what made America great.

The biggest obstacle for Germany is moving away from coal power, but if given enough dedication I think they can accomplish that goal within 20 years.

[FarCenter]

6. Mainly it was an extremely generous feed in tarrif and the importation of cheap Chinese solar panels

[marasinghe]

3. excellent.

and considering Germany is towards the northern end of the Temperate Zone, this is quite remarkable.
Tropical Zone countries need to get their asses moving, fast.

[Harmony Blue]

5. No kidding!

The sheer amount of solar energy potential for the United States is massive. California, Florida, Texas, etc. Not only that, but those regions tend to have superior weather conditions than Germany.

[SidDithers]

4. Good for them, but it's a bit misleading to compare it to 20 nuclear power plants...

because the capacity factor of Solar is so different from the capacity factor of Nuclear.

I posted this in another thread on the same news item, and I'm going to copy it here:

The biggest problem with Solar is the capacity factor...

At those moments on Friday and Saturday at midday, Germany produced 22 GW. But what about when it's dark?

A better measure is the total annual power output, which is the Capacity x capacity factor x total hours in a year, expressed in GWh.


In total, Germany has 25 GW of total solar capacity, but the actual power output in 2011 was 18 TWh. This means that in 2011, their solar plants operated at a capacity factor of only ~ 8% (source wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Germany )

25 GW x 24hours x 365 days x 8% capacity factor = 18,000 GWh of power output in a year


By comparison, Darlington Nuclear Generating Station outside of Toronto has a capacity of 3.512 GW but in 2011 operated at a capacity factor of 95%. (http://www.opg.com/power/nuclear/) Total power output from Darlington is:

3.512 GW x 24hours x 365 days x 95% capacity factor = 29,229 GWh of power output in a year

So, a single reactor complex, with 4 avg sized reactors, produced 62% more power in a 2011 than all of the solar in Germany.

Where did Germany get the other 96 or 97% of it's electricity in 2011?

Comparing German solar production to 20 nuclear power plants is misleading. German solar can more accurately be compared to 2 or 3 mid sized nuclear reactors.

Sid

[MindMover]

8. Your numbers might add up but your quality of life and.....

continued raping of the earth to sustain power output is certain self destruction.....

Therefore, I vote for renewable energy.....

[mahina]

7. It's amazing what people can do when half their govt isn't

bought and paid for by the oil corps.

[Scurrilous]

9. K & R

[Franker65]

10. Great

I'm very happy to read this news but I wonder how realistic it is. Friday was quite warm and sunny, unusually so for this time of year. Now its back to wind, rain and clouds and I guess, not so much energy production. But still, its good to see that the Germans have the capacity. Statistics do show that Germany made a huge push to install extra capacity in comparison in recent years in comparison to other countries. Nicely done.

[XemaSab]

11. Welcome to DU!

We have a whole group for *discussing* energy and the environment. I hope you'll join us!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1127

[XemaSab]

12. Here's a link to an earlier thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=736390