Variable Clean Energy Resources Represent a Challenge for Germany — But Didn't We Already Know That?

2GreenEnergy supporter Tim Kingston sent me this piece on Germany’s adoption of renewable energy.  It’s good, but I wish it were a bit more informative.  We already knew that heavy penetration of variable resources gives systems operators heartburn, and that unexpected clouds that shadow a significant part of their solar arrays (a mere 30 gigawatts in the case of Germany) are bad news.

In any case, we all need to be respectful of Germany, as, with their new-found anti-nuke sentiment, they really are grabbing the clean energy bull by the horns.  It’s a very interesting commitment for a country whose cultural norms are so deeply rooted in minimizing risk.  “Sicher ist sicher” (sure is sure) an old friend used to tell me, describing the typical German mentality.

Of course, the Germans would respond here, “You want sure?  OK, we’re surely destroying our planet with the consumption of fossil fuels.  The question is what are we going to do about it.”