Is Germany switching to coal?

[cprise]

Opponents of renewables in North America are pouncing on the news of a new coal plant in Germany, especially because German Environmental Minister Peter Altmaier cut the ribbon, so to speak. Altmaier said Germany will need the conventional fossil power plants for "decades to come," though he did not say it was, as Fox Business put it, to "complement unreliable and intermittent renewable energies such as wind and solar power." In fact, he stated that "fossil energy and renewables should not be played as cards against each other" and that we have to move beyond "making enemies of the two."

It took six years to build the plant, meaning that the process started in 2006. It is by no means a reaction to the nuclear phaseout of 2011. And as Altmaier himself points out, the new plant can ramp up and down by 150 megawatts within five minutes and by 500 megawatts within 15, making it a flexible complement to intermittant renewables. In the area, 12 coal plants more than 40 years old have been decommissioned, and the new 2,200 megawatt plant is to directly replace 16 older 150 megawatts blocks by the end of this year, so 2,200 megawatts of new, more flexible, somewhat cleaner capacity (the new plant has an efficiency of 43 percent, whereas 35 percent would be considered ambitious for most old coal plants) is directly replacing 2,400 old megawatts.

http://www.renewablesinternational.net/is-germany-switching-to-coal/150/537/56081/

Europe's coal renaissance – the end is nigh

Essentially, the coal plants now going up were planned between 2005/2008 and therefore have nothing to do with the unnecessarily sudden nuclear phase-out of 2011 – and everything to do with the poor beginning of emissions trading in Europe during those years.

Now, the unpublished ECF briefing provided to Renewables International confirms these findings for the EU as a whole. Over the past two decades, coal consumption is not only down considerably in Germany, but also throughout the EU.

http://www.renewablesinternational.net/europes-coal-renaissance-the-end-is-nigh/150/537/60687/

So, in a word... No.

[MAD Dave]

1. If Germany hopes to keep the light.....

......on for a reasonable price or allow the people of Bavaria to live without smog and coal dust, they'll turn the nukes back on within the decade.

[cprise]

2. That's just an uninformed opinion

Uh, you read articles awfully quick...

[kristopher]

3. The opponents of renewable energy just never give up, do they?

Given the general popularity of renewables you have to wonder where they get all of their motivation to engage in such seeming knee-jerk criticism.

[FogerRox]

9. LOL, in a decade renewables will be starting to dominate the market

turn the nukes back on, indeed.

[wtmusic]

5. Shhhh...here's their secret.

[hunter]

7. That's how California does it.

We import electricity from coal and nuclear plants in other states. At the moment limited transmission capacity is preventing further imports. In order to convince the public that more transmission lines are needed, the power industry says these lines are needed for wind and solar projects. They never mention that not more than 15% of the energy these new lines carried would come from solar or wind, and 85% or more from new coal plants built in states with less restrictive environmental regulations.

Growth of electricity use in California has been limited by high prices. Importing dirty out-of-state natural gas, coal, and nuclear energy is a very profitable business. It could be even more profitable if transmission capacity into the state was increased.

[kristopher]

8. Here is the real story.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/112738232

And

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1127&pid=40189

[cprise]

4. kick

[wtmusic]

6. Meanwhile, news sources outside the Church of Renewables paint a different picture.

Merkel’s Green Shift Forces Germany to Burn More Coal

"Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government says RWE AG (RWE)’s new power plant that can supply 3.4 million homes aids her plan to exit nuclear energy and switch to cleaner forms of generation. It’s fired with coal.

The startup of the 2,200-megawatt station near Cologne last week shows how Europe’s largest economy is relying more on the most-polluting fuel. Coal consumption has risen 4.9 percent since Merkel announced a plan to start shutting the country’s atomic reactors after last year’s Fukushima disaster in Japan.

Germany’s largest utilities RWE and EON AG (EOAN) are shunning cleaner-burning natural gas because it’s more costly, while the collapsing cost of carbon permits means there’s little penalty for burning coal. Wind and solar projects, central to Germany’s plans to reduce nuclear energy and cut the release of heat- trapping gases, can’t produce electricity around the clock. "

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-19/merkel-s-green-shift-forces-germany-to-burn-more-coal-energy.html

[cprise]

10. Now who is talking backwards--Renewables are the bazaar

While nuclear is the epitome of the Cathedral, with a despotic antidemocratic priesthood. The main reason why high finance keeps proposing nuclear is that the very wealthy are always piqued for schemes that translate into great control.

Bloomberg can cover the issue as narrowly as they like; that is the prerogative of American media. Germany's carbon emissions were still lower than its target during that year, and there is no established upward trend. So grousing on the subject is just BS.

[wtmusic]

11. Fine, then post links from outside the Church bubble that back up your position.

You can't.

Hallelujah. Praise to Mark Jacobson.

[kristopher]

12. Post 8 above