Just run the numbers!!



For information on Renewable Energy performances and capacity factors derived from Renewable Energy industry sources across Europe and for Germany in particular see:

https://edmhdotme.wordpress.com/european-renewable-energy-costs-and-performance-2014/



These costing comparisons strip out all the positive profitability effects of government regulation and subsidies that are being applied to Renewable Energy. These are the only things that still make Renewables a viable business proposition.



Accounting for the capacity factors, (the actual electrical output as compared to the Nameplate capacity of the Renewable installation) that as they are reported by the Renewable Industry, the overall capital cost of all European Renewable Energy installations averages out at about €29billion / Gigawatt, whereas the cost of a conventional gas-fired generation is about €1billion / Gigawatt.



The overall capital value accounting for capacity of Renewables at €29billion / Gigawatt is derived from the combination of:

Onshore Windpower ~€14.2 billion/GW

Offshore Windpower ~€41.4 billion/GW

On Grid Solar Power ~€48.5 billion/GW



According to these Renewable Energy supporting sources by 2014 European Union countries had invested approximately €1 trillion €1,000,000,000,000 in large scale Renewable Energy installations. This may well be an underestimate. Overall wind and solar power capacity factor across Europe is ~18%



This expenditure has provided a nameplate electrical generating capacity of about 216 Gigawatts, nominally about ~22% of the total European generation needs of some 1000 Gigawatts.



The actual measured output by 2014 reported by Renewable Industry sources has been 38 Gigawatts or ~3.8% of Europe’s electricity requirement, at a capacity factor of ~18% overall.



Accordingly the whole 1000 Gigawatt fleet of European electricity generation installations could have been replaced with dispatchable, lower capital cost Gas-fired installations for the €1trillion of capital costs already expended on Renewable Energy in Europe.



However Renewable Energy production is dependent on the seasons, local weather conditions and the rotation of the earth, day and night. The Renewable Energy contribution to the electricity supply grid is inevitably erratic, intermittent and non-dispatchable. It is therefore much less useful than dispatchable sources of electricity, which can be engaged whenever necessary to match demand and maintain grid stability.



So that 3.8% Renewable Energy contribution to the grid is often not available when needed and obversely its mandatory use and feed-in obligations can cause major grid disruption if the Renewable Energy contribution is suddenly over abundant.



The Renewable Energy industry could not exist without the Government mandated subsidies and preferential tariffs on which it depends. So it is not a truly viable business proposition



Viewed from the point of view of the engineering viability of a nation’s electrical grid, Renewable Energy would never be part of the generating mix without its Government mandate and Government market interference.



And the burden of these additional Renewable Energy costs is both imposed on consumers via the increase in their utility bills and hugely damages the viability of European industries.



So the Green thinking in its enthusiasm to save the world from an indefinable but probably minimal threat, will destroy Western civilisation long before the world fails from excessive overheating from CO2 emissions.



references:



EurObservER-Wind-Energy-Barometer-2015-EN-2.pdf

http://www.eurobserv-er.org/wind-energy-barometer-2015/

EurObservER-Photovoltaic-Barometer-2015-EN.pdf

http://www.eurobserv-er.org/photovoltaic-barometer-2015/



Cost comparisons are have been clearly made by the US EIA

US EIA electricity_generation.pdf 2015 Table 1

http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/electricity_generation.cfm