Could This Be The End Of Renewable Energy Growth In The EU? -- July 29, 2018

The other day I posted a note that suggested -- in Australia -- that if the country simply completely cut off all solar/wind energy at peak demand (late in the afternoon) no one would even notice -- except perhaps investors in solar and wind.

Now, this from cleanenergywire:

The German energy ministry considers limiting the feed-in priority for renewable power to reduce the costs of managing grid bottlenecks, Stefan Schulze writes on Spiegel Online.

“Green power plants could generally become part of bottleneck management,” an unpublished analysis for the ministry says, according to Schulze.

By throttling down wind and solar power supply when the grid is overloaded, costs could be reduced “substantially” as opposed to the current scheme where coal and other fossil power plants are throttled down first, according to the analysis.

Costs of managing grid bottlenecks --- this was predicted some years ago.

A "thank you"to a reader for this link and comment.

The downside?

However, limiting the feed-in priority for green power, a key policy instrument for establishing renewables in the country, would increase carbon emissions from power plants by approximately one percent.

Oh, give me a break.

• Germany is importing record amounts of coal, previously reported, after shutting down nuclear plants
• even if that "one percent" figure is accurate -- and you can probably get whatever number one wants -- GIGO -- one percent is inconsequential -- compare with what China and India are emitting
• Germany would have done a lot better going to natural gas (like the US did) rather than go to renewables which require fossil-fuel backup anyway

If Germany ends its policy on giving renewables priority feed-in and levels the field, it pretty much means the beginning of the end for renewable energy growth in the EU.

The Germans must be reading the blog, "Europe at a tipping point."

Regardless of what this means for renewable energy in the EU, this is the important takeaway for me: the Europeans are finally looking at renewable energy from a rational, rather than an emotional, point of view.