The 4th Largest Economy In The World Just Generated 90 Percent Of The Power It Needs From Renewables

[UCmeNdc]

On Sunday, for a brief, shining moment, renewable power output in Germany reached 90 percent of the country’s total electricity demand.

That’s a big deal. On May 8th, at 11 a.m. local time, the total output of German solar, wind, hydropower, and biomass reached 55 gigawatts (GW), just short of the 58 GW consumed by every light bulb, washing machine, water heater and personal computer humming away on Sunday morning. See the graph below, courtesy Agora Energiewende, a German clean energy think tank. (It’s important to note that most likely, not all of that 55 GW could be used at the time it was generated due to system and grid limitations, but it’s still noteworthy that this quantity of power was produced.)


http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/09/3776629/germany-renewable-generation/

[Bad Dog]

1. Again TTIP raises its ugly head.

The fear is that power companies will find it a lot easier to sue governments for following a more green agenda. They're already doing it, and that's without TTIP.

When Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to rapidly phase out nuclear energy in Germany this spring in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, many predicted the policy would ultimately end up in court. Now, according to a report in the Wednesday edition of the business daily Handelsblatt, Vatenfall plans to file a billion-euro lawsuit against the German government. The suit is to be filed by Christmas with the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington D.C., the paper reported.

Insiders told Handelsblatt that Vattenfall attorneys have already almost completed their complaint. The company would only confirm in the report that it expected "compensation for the exit from nuclear energy." Vattenfall has 66.7 percent ownership of the Brunsbüttel nuclear plant, and 50 percent ownership of the Krümmel nuclear plant, both near Hamburg. The company is also the operator of both plants, neither of which are currently online.

Chancellor Merkel's government had decided in the autumn of 2010 to extend the lives of Germany's nuclear reactors beyond the deadline for nuclear phase-out set by the center-left government of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. But following the disaster in Fukushima, Merkel's pro-nuclear course became politically unteneble and she quickly reversed course. Several reactors -- including the two operated by Vattenfall -- were shut down immediately with the new phase-out set for completion by 2022.

In June, the company demanded "fair compensation" for the losses associated with shutting down the two plants, and threatened a lawsuit. Other operators of German nuclear reactors also announced similar intentions at the time. RWE and E.on have already sued the federal government over the nuclear power tax.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/vattenfall-vs-germany-nuclear-phase-out-faces-billion-euro-lawsuit-a-795466.html

[pampango]

2. The lawsuit has nothing to do with TTIP, as the article states, unless ALL international agreements

are BAD. That apparently is Trump's position since he hasn't seen one yet he would not "rip up".

From the article:

Vattenfall has an advantage in seeking compensation because the company has its headquarters abroad. As a Swedish company, Vattenfall can invoke investment rules under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), which protect foreign investors in signatory nations.

Germany is not being sued for "following a more green agenda" but for encouraging a Swedish company to invest $1 billion in Germany then changing policy.

If Germany does not want foreigners investing in German energy projects, including green projects, all it has to do is withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty. Foreign investors would have no protections. And they would be more likely to invest elsewhere and not in Germany.

Any country has the right to join or withdraw from international agreements. Conservatives like Trump seem to believe that every international agreement sacrifices 'national sovereignty' because we agree to limit what we do if other countries limit what they do.

So far Germany does not seem to have a Trump-like fear of foreigners or belonging to organizations that have a lot of foreigners in them.

[sulphurdunn]

5. It is reasonable

for Germany to reimburse Vattenfall for its investment but not for the loss of future revenue, which, I think, is where this sort of thing is headed if the TTIP is approved. It would be interesting to know whether or not TTIP would supersede less investor friendly agreements.

[Bad Dog]

12. You're right. It doesn't.

The fear is that under TTIP such court cases will be more likely.

[pampango]

3. Great news for Germans for a high-wage, strong-union country to go green

so successfully.

[Jitter65]

4. Tell that to W.VA voters. nt

[whatthehey]

6. Well for them it's bad news that they haven't done the same

It's not like Germany did it in six weeks or that we haven't seen the death of coal coming for decades. WV is partially to blame as they strenuously resisted any attempt to develop alternative energy industries there, not that the feds tried that hard.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. Germany is still using plenty of coal, 2014 was the first year in which they used less and less

is the goal but just like here it's not an instant transition, Germany didn't do it in six weeks and in fact they are still in the process of doing it and they have all the same issues around it that we do.
This article is from Jan of this year and has various points of view in Germany on the coal exit:

http://www.reuters.com/article/rwe-coal-idUSL8N1531X2

[whatthehey]

9. Yes - but the much much less and the duration are exactly my point

It's disingenuous of WV miners to say that they did not have plenty of warning and time to develop alternatives for a US which inevitably must move in the same direction, and indeed is so moving, but just much more slowly than Germany.

WV is mountainous. Without being a hydrologist I'm sure there's scope for hydro power there. Wind power can be put pretty much anywhere. Solar too. They could even have lobbied for nuclear power. There hasn't been a single application to build a new one of those in the US for a generation. Clinging to coal like a blankie for decades and then whining as an adult when somebody says you might need to put that aside is not the correct response.

[Bluenorthwest]

10. WV does not mine coal to power WV, that's for the country. My point is that Germany is doing the

exact process, they are further along but they are not without challenges in terms of job loss in the coal industry, which in Germany is also regionally specific mining which serves the entire country. It's not easier for Germany. They are also arguing about the timeline, about the totality, about all of it.

Also just like Germany, the alternatives are not the responsibility of the miners. You say the miners have had time to develop alternatives but they are coal miners, laborers and not developers of alternative energy sources. They are us. We are them. The coal they mine is burned all over this country. It's not up to them to figure out how to power Oregon, which is hydro heavy and still uses about 35% coal power.

My point is that Germany and the US face the exact same challenges. We can learn much from them. Pretending that they have already solved this problem will not help. They are in process and their process is very, very similar to our own. Very.

[whatthehey]

11. Those same people vote overwhelmingly against any alternative development

Nobody expects coal miners to design PV arrays. It would be reasonably though to expect them to know that we need PV arrays to replace a rapid reduction in the economic and environmental feasibility of coal, and that it's better for them if we built them, and wind farms, and hydro facilities, in WV using their labor and federal subsidies to help pay for it. Instead they fight every single attempt. They are like farriers in 1910 who refuse to learn car repair, desperately fighting any change to a trade which is dying around them. Unlike (AFAIK) those farriers, they are even refusing help and financial support during the inevitable transition, as if that will do anything but leave them less prepared when it passes them by.

[pampango]

7. I prefer that the US be less like West Virgina and more like Germany with its strong middle class

and unions. And the global environment hopes the German model succeeds, not the West Virginia model. But that is just me.