Germany Has More Solar Power Because Everyone Wins

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Suddenly everyone knows about Germany’s solar power dominance because Fox Newsheads made fools of themselves, suggesting that the country is a sunny, tropical paradise.* Most media folks have figured out that there are some monster differences in policy (e.g. a feed-in tariff), but then latch on to the “Germans pay a lot extra” meme.* Germans do, a

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westbranch

Re: Germany Has More Solar Power Because Everyone Wins

My initial reaction is 'don't we know it' as the other thread is still active at 31 responses...

this guy encapsulates the issue very concisely and well! (IMHO)... emphasis added below...

Fox News’ gaffe about sunshine helps others paper over the real tragedy of American energy policy. In a country founded on the concept of self-reliance (goodbye, tea imports!), we finance clean energy with tax credits that make wind and solar reliant on Wall Street instead of Main Street. We largely preclude participation by the ordinary citizen unless they give up ownership of their renewable energy system to a leasing company. We make clean energy a complicated alternative to business as usual, while the cloudy, windless Germans make the energy system of the future by making it stupid easy and financially rewarding.

I’m all for pounding the faithless fools of Fox, but let’s learn the real secret to German energy engineering and start making democratic energy in America.

I guess for whatever reason , we just have to be believers in another paradigm!

stephendv

Re: Germany Has More Solar Power Because Everyone Wins

westbranch wrote: »

while the cloudy, windless Germans make the energy system of the future by making it stupid easy and financially rewarding.

The situation in Spain is equally dire due to the roman bureaucracy which, even when there were very attractive FITs, would still take 1 year from time of application till authorisation of the installation. The result is that you won't see almost any PV installed on roofs, the vast majority is owned by companies installed in big ground based projects.

Now that they've removed the FITs, they've been "in consultation" with the energy companies about introducing a net-metering scheme... for the last 2 years. In the meantime, the 5 big energy companies continue to fix prices and pay the minuscule fine when they're caught, while Spaniards pay for the most expensive electricity in the whole EU.

solarix

Re: Germany Has More Solar Power Because Everyone Wins

Did you know that in Germany, installations take about 10 days (total) because the only paperwork required is a 1-page registration once it is finished?