Germany sets solar power record
Photovoltaic solar power plants in Germany set a new world record for energy produced last weekend. Last Friday, solar power produced 22 gigawatts of energy, equivalent to the output of 20 nuclear plants. For the first time, a major industrialized country produced 50 % of its electricity from solar photovoltaic plants & individual homes & businesses.
Germany hopes to be nuclear-free by 2022. The country decided to turn its back on nuclear energy after last year’s Fukushima disaster in Japan. Other countries are following suit, realizing that the dangers of nuclear energy outweigh any advantages.
Germany is showing the world it is capable of meeting a large share of its electricity needs with solar power. Fewer coal and natural gas burning plants will be needed as solar power increases. Germany has almost as many solar power energy units as the rest of the world combined.
The record Germany has set proves that alternative energy is capable of competing in the energy markets. For many decades now, opponents of renewable energy have tried to get the world to believe that alternative energy is too expensive. They unfairly plug in one form of renewable energy into the centralized energy grid and then proclaim it too be unfeasable, but renewable energy systems operate in a de-centralized fashion, close to communities. The record set in Germany last week clearly shows that photovoltaic solar systems can possibly even beat conventional systems when looking at a realistic 15-20 year cost calculation. This has happened in cloudy Germany. What could the U.S. do with all the sun we get here in the western part of America?
A second development in renewable energy is in energy storage, which has been a problem from the beginning of the movement. Companies all over the world are investing billions of dollars into research in energy storage. Most of this research has been involved in the electric car industry, but it is moving into areas that involve energy storage systems that will benefit all enegy consumers. If research can come up with storage systems that will provide energy for 5-7 days, renewable energy will really become popular. This has been a stumbling block for too long. Perhaps the world is on the verge of a whole new era of energy development.