“With eight of 17 nuclear power stations closed immediately after last March’s nuclear disaster in Japan, Germany’s powerlines have struggled to cope with sudden new demands.”
The Financial Times reports:
Those on the frontline of Germany’s nuclear power phase-out talk about a daily struggle to keep the lights on.
One year after half the country’s nuclear plants were switched off, the government argues that the country’s conversion to electricity from renewable sources over the next decade is on track. But many experts question this and say the transition is proving difficult.
“We got through the winter,” says Volker Weinreich, head of the northern control centre for Tennet, the Dutch group which runs one of Germany’s four high-voltage regional networks. “But we were lucky and are reaching the limits of what’s doable”…
While the long-term quest remains the need to find a sustainable replacement for 20GW of nuclear generating capacity, the country’s most immediate problem has proved the fragility of its electricity network.
“We got through the cold spell with a very black eye,” says Jürgen Hambrecht, who advised chancellor Angela Merkel as a member of her ethics commission on energy. “We have still got very ambitious goals … But everywhere we’re short on implementation, on concrete action.”
With eight of 17 nuclear power stations closed immediately after last March’s nuclear disaster in Japan, Germany’s powerlines have struggled to cope with sudden new demands. In early February a major blackout came perilously close…
Anyone who thought the Germans were smart have hopefully changed their opinions by now. Anyone who has been reading Der Spiegle for a while probably changed them long ago.
You’ve got to love the Law of Unintended Consequences. Consider it closely. Meditate upon it deeply. Get a second opinion from someone uninvolved.