Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Germanynowgetsawhopping20percentofitspowerfromclean,sustainableenergy,
including solar power, and the country has become a laboratory for the kind of electri-
city supply that the world will benefit from in years to come. At age 41 I'm old enough
to remember when fossil-fuel industry-sponsored experts told us that no more than 5
percent of the electricity grid could possibly come from renewable—so-called intermit-
tent—resources. Then, when innovative people pushed the envelope, the numbers were
raised to 10 percent and then to 15 percent. Now in Germany—one of Europe's few
strong economies—more than 25 percent of energy comes in the form of wind and sol-
ar electrons on many days. The rest of Europe didn't want the Germans to hog the solar
spotlight, and now many other places have at times adopted a higher density of clean
electricity in their grid than even Germany—such as Denmark (more than 30 percent),
Spain (35 percent), and Portugal (50 percent). Italy installed more than enough solar
power for a million homes in 2011, despite its fiscal worries.
In Crimea, Ukraine, a Vienna-based developer, Activ Solar, built the world's largest
solar park, a project of more than 100 megawatts in capacity—one-tenth the size of a
nuke—and worth about 300 million euros (US $387 million), according to reports. The
Perovaplantconsistsof440,000solarpanels,spans500hundredacres,andwillgenerate
enough peak-load power for the electrical needs for all of Simferopol, Crimea's capital.
And what do these nations get through the adoption of clean energy? Not blackouts
and higher electricity bills but rather employment and price stability. Germany in partic-
ular has benefitted from this, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, becoming a center
ofexcellencefortheexportofhightechproducts,andprovidinglower-costelectricityfor
its population than energy that comes out of the conventional grid—all while shutting
down the bulk of its nuclear-power-plant fleet.
In spite of the staggering advances Germany has made, politics is besieging it. The
country is experiencing a backlash against renewable energy, led by fiscal conservatives
in the German parliament who believe that the incentives for solar power will cost too
much in the future. The debate is sure to wax and wane, and even at this high-tide mark
there's going to be some flux. Although the conservatives are reducing the rate of pay-
ments for solar power, the benefits of solar incentives have already taken effect, and the
German population understands this. More people support it politically because they're
making money from the shift. So no matter what changes the Bundestag wants to make,
there's no turning back.
TheGermaneconomyisonapositivepath.Thecountryismovingfromboilingwater
withstored-solar-powersuppliestogettingelectricitybyothersustainableandeconomic-
allybeneficialmeans.Moreimportantly,50percentofGermany'ssolarpanelsareowned
by individuals and farms, not big corporate generators. As one writer put it, this is a
good thing: “Decentralized power generation, more relocalization and reregionalization
