Only renewables - not nuclear - could be too cheap to meter

[kristopher]

Only renewables - not nuclear - could be too cheap to meter
Germany's long support for wind and solar energy is delivering zero-cost electricity at times. In contrast, the UK's new energy policy seeks to underwrite the rising cost of nuclear

"Too cheap to meter": that was the infamous boast of the nuclear power industry in its heyday. It has been catastrophically discredited by history.

Yet the phrase may yet see a new life - not of course for nuclear power - but for renewable energy. As the UK government publishes its draft energy bill on Tuesday, acknowledged by all but ministers themselves as primarily an arcane way of getting new nuclear power stations built, I am in Germany.

Already, on one particularly windy weekend here, the surge of electricity drove the price down to zero. Very soon, due to the 25GW of solar capacity Germany has already installed, hot summer's days will see the same effect: electricity too cheap to meter.

Now hang on, I hear you say, free electricity is actually crazy as it means there's no incentive to invest in new, clean generation capacity, which almost every country needs as the world seeks to cut the carbon emissions driving climate change. Germany's renewable energy policy, which began with a feed-in-tariff in 1990, deals with this by continuing to pay the producer, even when the electricity is sold for nothing.

Crazy again, right? No, says Andreas Kraemer ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2012/may/22/energy-nuclear-renewables

[bemildred]

1. Which means no big, easy profits, right?

Which is why the corporatistas hate it.

[Uncle Joe]

2. Germany will become far more competitive on the global market if it can reach 100%

renewable energy, driving costs more consistently toward "too cheap to meter" and they won't just benefit from jobs in the renewables industry.

The cheaper cost of energy will give all of that nation's manufacturing industries an advantage over those nations; still predominately living in the Fossil or Nuclear Age.

Now hang on, I hear you say, free electricity is actually crazy as it means there's no incentive to invest in new, clean generation capacity, which almost every country needs as the world seeks to cut the carbon emissions driving climate change. Germany's renewable energy policy, which began with a feed-in-tariff in 1990, deals with this by continuing to pay the producer, even when the electricity is sold for nothing.

Crazy again, right? No, says Andreas Kraemer, director of the Ecologic Institute, an energy research policy centre, because the tax benefit to the Germany, via 400,000 jobs in the €40bn-a-year renewables industry is outweighs than the cost of the subsidy. Furthermore, he says, the contribution of renewable energy in cutting peak prices mean the wholesale cost of electricity is 10% lower than it would be without them. "The money flowing out in FITs is less than the money saved by the end consumer," he says. And all the while a clean, sustainable energy system is built.

Thanks for the thread, kristopher.