Germany shows how political will and public support are creating a viable renewable energy sector
Electricity prices in Germany over the Christmas weekend were negative, giving consumers savings on their bill. The situation is relatively common: throughout 2017, prices have fallen below zero more than a hundred times, thanks to a more than $200 billion investment over the last two decades to promote renewable energy sources. Other countries, such as Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom have experienced negative electricity prices at times, and in Germany it is now so common that the country can regularly export energy to its neighbors to balance the market.
Negative electricity prices don’t mean consumers are paid for using electricity: the price of energy in the wholesale market contributes only about one fifth of the bill paid by German households. The rest is made up of taxes, levies and compensations of various types, among which, logically, are charges to finance the important investment in renewable energies. When the price of energy in the wholesale market falls below zero, the impact on households is a saving in the total amount of the invoice. German electricity bills are, along with Denmark’s, among the highest in Europe, but most consumers accept this and support policies aimed at reducing the carbon footprint, particularly given that household expenditure on electricity has remained stable over the past few years.
Financing renewable energy generation infrastructure through taxes included in bills is made possible thanks to broad support for environmentalist parties, along with Germans’ willingness to pay for their beliefs. Windy weather, sunshine, good weather, and holiday periods such as Christmas, when fewer homes are using electricity, given that large numbers of people get together with relatives, helps renewable energy use, together with the difficulty of reducing short term generation from conventional nuclear or thermal power plants, and leads to surplus situations.
The problem with renewable energies is that production depends on the weather, not on demand. To balance these phase shifts, batteries can be used, but large-scale installations are still costly. Another option is the use of reversible hydroelectric power plants, which pump water to high ground at times of surplus energy, sending it back down through turbines that generate electricity when energy is required As the efficiency of renewable energy generation increases, Germany looks set to meet its commitment to generate 100% of electric power from renewable sources by 2050. Thanks to government policies, on average, three quarters of the country’s electricity is wind generated. There are already a few countries or regions (Germany, southern Austria, Costa Rica, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and some small islands) that on occasion have been able to generate 100% of their electricity without fossil fuels, a variable that in the future will characterize advanced countries. If you still believe that renewable energies make a negligible contribution, depend exclusively on subsidies or are too expensive, find out more here.
Thanks to Swanson’s Law, solar energy is already cheaper than burning coal. In one year, the cost of solar energy has been reduced by half, a milestone unknown in the history of energy generation. The sun is already the cheapest source of energy that exists, and we can expect the cost of solar generation to fall still further. The solar energy revolution will begin mostly in countries with plenty of sunshine, but will soon spread throughout the planet. If we add wider access to information on consumption patterns to the mix, it’s clear that the global energy market is due for disruption.
In the case of Germany, making people aware that they should pay for renewable energy generation infrastructure out of their own pockets has created the possibility of a sustainable, clean energy future. Meanwhile, here in Spain, one of the world’s sunniest countries, our politicians seem to prefer to worry about other things than cheaper, sustainable energy.
(En español, aquí)
