The Law leads to large conventional coal and gas plants leaving the grid far too early  and these are the only plants which can guarantee a stable supply of power. This in turn has led to many of these plants being decommissioned prematurely since they were being forced to operate at uneconomic levels of loading. They are then no longer available to compensate when the wind does not blow or at night or on cloudy days as wind and solar power generation fluctuate wildly.

The hidden costs of renewable power are now being revealed and an entirely new market for “balancing power” has appeared. The “balancing power” – nearly always gas-fired  - is just to compensate for the inherent unreliability of wind and solar.  For every 100 MW of renewable capacity added around 70 MW of (mainly) gas-based balancing capacity has to be added to ensure a stable and steady supply of power. With subsidies and “balancing” costs added to the direct cost of building wind or solar plants, the actual costs of renewable power have been exorbitant and have contributed significantly to the increase of electricity prices to the consumer. Germany now has the second highest consumer electricity price in Europe (second only to Denmark with its profligate use of subsidised wind turbines)

The German Federal Network Agency has issued a report warning of the dangers during the coming winter. Daniel Wetzel of Die Welt writes (translation from GWPF – Philip Mueller):

Last winter, on several occasions, Germany escaped only just large-scale power outages. Next winter the risk of large blackouts is even greater. The culprit for the looming crisis is the single most important instrument of German energy policy: the “Renewable Energy Law.”

The dramatic tone of the report by the Federal Network Agency (FNA) on the near-blackouts last winter is hard to overestimate: although the cold spell was short and mild, the situation in the German electricity network was “very serious” according to the Agency.

Several times, the pre-ordered reserve power plants in Austria and Germany were fully utilized. On several occassions, the network operators were not even able to mobilize additionally needed emergency reserves abroad. The number of short-term emergency interventions in network and power plant operating shot up by more than 30,000 percentage points on some network portions.

“Had a failure of a large power plant taken place in this situation, there would have been hardly any room for maneuver available.” This quote from the FNA report is translation for “We narrowly escaped a catastrophe.”…….

The culprit for the looming crisis is the single most important instrument of German energy policy: the “Renewable Energy Law” (EEG). It stipulates the priority of green electricity supply. What was once useful as an aid for the market introduction of wind and solar power, has today, 12 years later, disastrous side effects.

It pushes those plants which alone can guarantee a stable power supply, i.e. gas- and coal-fired power plants, out of the market far too early. More and more facilities are being decommissioned. The result is a significantly higher risk of large-scale power outages, so-called blackouts, whose duration and propagation is hard to predict.

The economic cost of a wide-scale blackout are measured in billions of Euros per day. If power outages last longer, one has to expect a high number of deaths. The most important test of energy policy is now the stability of power – so far only the cost of the green energy transition has been focused upon.

Because the federal government does not have the guts to start an overdue and fundamental debate about the usefulness of a 12-year-old, now totally outdated, “launch aid” called EEG, it now threatens to over-steer, with the green energy transition ending up in a crash. Fasten your seat belts.

Germany only just escaped large-scale power outages. Next winter the risk of large blackouts is even greater. The culprit for the looming crisis is the single most important instrument of German energy policy: the “Renewable Energy Law.”

According to Die Welt, the “Renewable Energy Law” (EEG) stipulates the priority of green electricity supply. What was once useful as an aid for the market introduction of wind and solar power, has today, 12 years later, disastrous side effects.

It pushes those plants which alone can guarantee a stable power supply, i.e. gas and coal-fired power plants, out of the market far too early. More and more facilities are being decommissioned. The result is a significantly higher risk of large-scale power outages, so-called blackouts, whose duration and propagation is hard to predict.

Federal Network Agency (FNA) said the near-blackouts last winter are hard to overestimate: although the cold spell was short and mild, the situation in the German electricity network was “very serious” according to the Agency.

Of course that’s in Europe, it’s got nothing to do with Australia. Or has it?

Last week our Greens, those tree hugging, environmental loonies, have once again stepped outside their so-called area of expertise.

The Newcastle Herald and Lithgow Mercury both report that the Greens are introducing a bill before the House of Representatives, the No New Coal Power Bill 2012, which would halt the planning approval for the proposed Cobbora coal mine. Approvals for this coal mine, which is midway between regional townships Mudgee and Dubbo, would be scuttled under the Greens’ legislation.

Their reasons?

“The new power stations would flood the state with cheap electricity and undermine the viability of renewable energy and energy efficiency,”

That’s head-shaking stuff. ‘Cheap electricity??’

Spokesman for the Greens, Jon Kaye, goes on to say,

“Thousands of new jobs in the solar and wind sectors would be lost.”

These jobs are non-existent now, and if they eventuate, will be jobs reliant totally on government subsidies. Is this the future of our economy? A government funded society?

Wind and solar power are by no means a viable source of base load power, as the situation in Germany shows. As it currently stands, the power that runs our cities, our industries, can only be maintained by coal-fired or hydro power. Not only won’t the Greens approve new dams, they are now blocking new coal-fired power stations.

It’s obvious that the Greens are prepared to turn the power off before there are equally viable alternatives. And as a result, they are prepared to trash Australia’s economy in the name of their Green religion. This is their socialist manifesto. Hiding behind the environmental banner, they are prepared to return Australia to the 1930s.

Perhaps a further look at Germany may provide some perspective.

The before pictures in this pictorial look alarmingly like photos taken at the end of WW2. Unfortunately, they were taken some forty five years later in 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

This is what socialism looks like.

The after pictures were taken ten years later, after capitalism had a chance to clean up the mess that socialism made of East Germany.

The complete photo spread is here, and it’s shocking in its profundity.

Socialists, enjoy.

oh, and btw, an old DDR (East German) joke…..

What would happen if the desert became a Communist country? Nothing for a while. Then there’d be a sand shortage.

The warning has been issued Wednesday, by the country’s energy-network regulator, the Bundesnetzagentur, or Federal Network Agency (FNA). The agency bears the responsibility to drive Germany forward the country’s goal of a planned gradual exit from all nuclear power to the end of 2022—which includes the immediate and permanent closure of eight reactors. A shift in energy policy come after the March nuclear accidents in Japan. Yet, Germany is far from being ready for that. The shutdown of nearly half of Germany’s 17 reactors — with a total generation capacity of around 8.4 gigawatts — could result in large-scale blackouts, it’ the warning coming from the Bundesnetzagentur’s president, Matthias Kurth, and the country’s power-transmission grid operators.

The alert might turn real in the Winter months, when demand is particularly high.

Most at risk is Southern Germany, which had relied heavily on nuclear power and where industrial energy demand is higher than in the north.

How to face the risk? Regulator have identified several thermal-power plants that can be operated as reserve capacity to bridge supply bottlenecks. Also, the Bundesnetzagentur had initially considered keeping an idled nuclear power plant as reserve capacity, but this option has been put aside: they will rely on coal, gas and oil-fired generation capacity. With the environmental consequences we can easily figure out.