Was Germany right to close its nuclear power plants?
A very interesting article in The Conversation, “Why Germany ditched nuclear before coal — and why it won’t go back”, explains the country’s energiewende (energy transition or energy revolution), and why the 2022 decision has turned out to be the right one.
Ill-informed sceptics claim Germany burns more coal because it has closed its nuclear power plants, the data show that this is not only wrong, but has driven huge growth in the development of renewables: a month before the closure of its nuclear power plants the distribution of power generation in Germany was 53% renewable, 25% coal, 17% gas and 5% nuclear; it now stands at 60% renewable, 24% coal, and 16% gas. None of the doomsayers’ predictions have come true: the country now uses more energy from renewables and has decreased dependence on coal and gas.
In addition, eliminating nuclear energy has ended distortions in the energy market: nuclear power is extremely rigid, and cannot be switched off. The system is now more flexible, driving investment in renewables, which have gone from representing only 6.3% of…
