Germany’s 10 Huge Lessons About Solar Energy February 11, 2013

If you’re Fox News, you look at the explosion of solar energy in Germany, and conclude that, Germany, at its Canadian latitude, must have more sunshine than the United States. I’ll take credit for begging Media Matters to upload the video that has gone insanely viral.(skip to 2:52 if you’re rushed)

Serious observers of the renewable energy industry the indispensable CleanTechnica blog have been taking a harder look at the world’s most dynamic and hopeful example of sustainable transformation – and distilled instructive and enlightening 10 lessons.

CleanTechnica:

Feed In Tariffs Democratize the Grid This is perhaps one of the most exciting lessons from Germany. As noted in another piece, – “Germany has more solar power because everyone wins.” While US solar subsidies (tax credits) favor the rich and Wall Street, German solar subsidies favor the common man. Well, actually, they just favor everyone equally. Guess what the result is. Yep, a lot more common people install solar in Germany than in the US. US solar power is primarily from large-scale solar power plants, while German solar power is primarily from rooftop solar power on residents’ homes. The “power company” in Germany is increasingly the citizenry. Democratizing the Grid Gets More Citizens Involved Guess what happens when you democratize the electric grid. People become more interested in energy, more informed, more motivated to save energy and get involved in the politics of energy. As someone once noted (sorry that I can’t recall the source), Germany may be the only country in the world where the taxi drivers can talk to you at length about energy policy. The same goes for energy use, the cost of energy, etc. Democracy is built on information — on people having access to information, and people actually consuming and spreading that information. Democracies that do that less are weaker. Democracies that do that more are stronger. With energy being a critical component of life, as well as the richest industry in the world, having a citizenry that is highly informed about the intricacies of energy is a very valuable commodity. If only there were a way to get people motivated about energy…. Oh yeah — solar policies that benefit the masses will do that! The Grid Will Not Fall Apart at 5% Solar Penetration, or 10%, or 20%… Early in Germany’s solar power days, critics of a solar revolution, and even many supporters, were convinced that solar penetration of the grid would be unmanageable, that solar would have to be limited to a certain percentage of the electricity supply. Initially, the idea was that 5% penetration was the max. As that approached and everyone could see that there wasn’t anything to worry about, the bar was raised to 10%, and then 15%, and then 20%. Solar PV capacity in Germany is now equal to 50% of peak summer electricity demand:

Furthermore, studies continue to up the degree to which renewables can penetrate the grid without adding storage or creating problems. A German engineering study last year found that, “There isn’t much of a need for power storage in Germany even if it increases the share of its electricity that is generated by renewable sources by around 50%,” we reported in October. A comprehensive study released in December 2012 found that solar, wind, and storage could power the electricity grid 99.9% by 2030 cheaper than any other option. Furthermore, decentralized solar power actually provides many benefits for the grid and society! Of course, it decreases deadly pollution and cuts water use. However, beyond that, it also guards against fuel price volatility, decreases the risk of power outages, adds grid stability, increases grid security, and cuts the price of electricity. Let’s get into that last one in a bit more detail. Solar Power Brings down the Price of Wholesale Electricity This is a topic we’ve covered extensively before. But it’s not quick to explain, so bear with me. Electricity suppliers get their electricity on the grid through a bidding process. The suppliers that can sell their electricity to the grid for cheapest win. Because the costs of solar and wind power plants are essentially just in the process of building them (the fuel costs are $0 and the maintenance costs are negligible), they can outbid pretty much every other source of power. As a result, 1) they win the bids when they produce electricity; 2) they drive down the price of wholesale electricity. Because solar power is often produced when electricity demand is the greatest (and electricity is, thus, the least available and most expensive), it brings down the price of electricity even more than wind.