50 pc of German power comes from renewables!

German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity per hour - equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity - through the midday hours on Friday and Saturday. Norbert Allnoch, director of the Institute of the Renewable Energy Industry (IWR) in Muenster, said the 22 gigawatts o f solar power per hour fed into the national grid on Saturday met nearly 50 percent of the nation's midday electricity needs. This should silence critics who say renewable energy is not reliable enough nor is there enough capacity to power major industrial nations.

Government-mandated support for renewables has helped Germany became a world leader in renewable energy and the country gets about 20 percent of its overall annual electricity from those sources. Germany has nearly as much installed solar power generation capacity as the rest of the world combined and gets about four percent of its overall annual electricity needs from the sun alone.

Germany added 7.5 GW of installed power generation capacity in 2012 and 1.8 GW more in the first quarter for a total of 26 GW capacity. Much of this was possible due to the feed in tariff system, for solar but the FIT has its critics, thanks to the soaring bill! Utilities and consumer groups have complained the FIT for solar power adds about 2 cents per kilowatt/hour on top of electricity prices in Germany that are already among the highest in the world with consumers paying about 23 cents per kw/h. Critics also complain growing levels of solar power make the national grid more less stable due to fluctuations in output.

Well, it is proof enough that when a highly industrialised and developed nation can make the change, it should be easier for those still in the transition to better lifestyles.