Review: Germany energy transition has cost issues as well
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 04 3, 2013
This book is about how Germany made the decision to and is implementing a change from an economy based on fossil fuels and nuclear power to geothermal, wind and solar.  Interesting story as to what Germany is doing.Unfortunately, it is short on economic impacts. Shutting down all of the nuclear reactors means that they must still be paid for, but no benefit is received, and at the same time new generating facilities must be built and financed. This raises the total cost to society.  The cost to the German families is real, and has a real impact on their lives.Spiegel OnLine International on 6 June 2012 article: The Move to Renewables: Germany's Nuclear Phase-Out Brings Unexpected Costs states: "About 200,000 recipients of Hartz IV, Germany's benefits program for the long-term unemployed, had their power cut off last year because of unpaid bills, according to Paritätische Gesamtverband, an umbrella association for social movements in Germany."Meanwhile, the next price hikes are just around the corner. "The cost of electricity will rise, there's no question about that," says Jochen Homann, head of Germany's state-run Federal Network Agency.  The federal Economy Ministry calculates internally that prices will increase by between three and five euro cents per kilowatt hour within the next 12 months, in order to finance renewable energy subsidies and grid expansion. Those increases amount to an additional annual burden of between 105 and 175 ($130 and $220) for a family of three." "It seems as though Germany is also modifying or building new coal fired powered plants and sees a role for them in the future.A Spiegel OnLine International Sept 2012 article: Flexible Fossils: A New Role for Coal in German Energy Revolution states: "The cooling towers and smokestacks of a power plant tower over the houses in Niederaussem, a small town near Cologne in the Rhineland region of Germany. The power station could well serve as a symbol for the second wave of Germany's so-called energy revolution -- it burns coal, but not in the conventional way. The technology it uses is one that more and more conventional coal-fired power plants may come to implement in the next years, because it solves a key problem in the transition to alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power......"A power plant with a silo can run on a low level if necessary. It can be powered down to 10 percent of its maximum output, a function that's impossible for plants without a silo. Even the most modern conventional facilities can go no lower than 35 percent of maximum performance. Operating at a capacity any less than that requires laboriously keeping the combustion going by burning oil or gas -- an option that's far too expensive......."Fluctuations in the System"The old energy system was straightforward. Its basis was large-scale power plants, which generally produced electricity at a constant rate. They were designed to operate at full power for as long as possible -- the ideal set-up for a large coal plant. During the hours in the middle of the day when energy demand rose, gas-fired plants fed additional power into the grid. In the age of fossil fuels, the division of labor was simple."But now the old system is being shaken up, as the energy transition leads to more and more wind turbines and solar arrays feeding into the grid. Grid operators are required by law to give priority to buying electricity from renewable sources, with the remaining demand met by coal and gas plants, as well as a decreasing number of nuclear power plants, which are due to be phased out by 2022."Soon the demand for electricity will likely no longer be enough to keep all the existing coal-fired plants in business, and those that want to continue selling as much conventionally generated energy as possible in this shrinking market must be able to react quickly to fluctuations in supply and consumption. Once this was something only gas-fired plants were able to do, but coal-fired plants are now preparing to challenge them for the role of a flexible provider that can make up shortfalls. Coal and gas power, once partners, are suddenly becoming competitors in a shrinking market......."If coal manages to replace gas as the flexible energy source which can compensate for fluctuations in the power supply, then more than one gas-fired plant may go bankrupt. Paradoxically, Germany would likely then end up emitting more CO2 overall."