Germany- Wind and Solar Energy Drive Electric Prices up 40% in 5 years!

SaveOurSeaShore Editor Note: This shows the cost  of wanton renewables investment both monetarily and CO2 wise. From the Wall Street Journal March 2, 2013 "Germany Debates Fracking as Energy Costs Rise", exposes the results of Germany's rush for misguided solar and wind renewable investments and its abandonment of low Carbon Nuclear Power and the resulting scramble for reliable and affordable low carbon non-renewable energy! After massive renewables investment...CO2 output went up 1.6% last year!!!

Highlights:

 Subsidies for renewable-energy producers that are financed in part through household electricity bills are causing electricity prices for ordinary consumers and industry to rise. Germany's biggest industrial power consumers have seen electricity prices per kilowatt hour rise nearly 40% in the past five years, according to the Cologne Institute for Economic Research, also known as IW. Electricity prices for industry are nearly 15% higher than the average in the 27-nation European Union, IW said.

"We have reached the pain threshold," said Michael Hüther, IW's director. He added that data show that energy-intensive industries are already beginning to curtail investment in Germany because of higher electricity charges.

"We are beginning to observe a creeping disinvestment," he said.

As the country turns its back on nuclear power, it is also seeing its carbon emissions rise. Long a leader in cutting carbon-dioxide emissions, Germany's emissions rose 1.6% last year, according to the Environment Ministry, the first rise in years.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424127887323293704578334...

Germany Debates Fracking as Energy Costs Rise

By WILLIAM BOSTON

BERLIN—Germany is debating whether to allow hydraulic fracturing, a controversial drilling technique to extract natural gas from shale, amid concern that rising energy costs in the country could threaten its industrial backbone.

The German public is deeply suspicious of the drilling practice, commonly known as fracking. Many Germans worry that the process, which involves using a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals to break apart energy-rich rocks, could contaminate underground water supplies.

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This week the government unveiled a proposal that it hopes can bridge the gap between pro-fracking advocates in industry and environmentally conscious voters. Through a change to existing laws, the government is proposing banning fracking near any water supply and in all national parks and conservation areas. Drilling anywhere else would be subject to approval based on an environmental-impact study.

The fracking debate comes as Germany is pursuing a radical restructuring of its energy sector. In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011, Chancellor Angela Merkel abruptly declared that Germany would abandon nuclear power and transition to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. As the use of nuclear power declines, Germany is filling the gap with a combination of renewable energy and coal-fired plants.

Yet Ms. Merkel's "energy revolution," as the shift away from nuclear has been dubbed, is having unexpected side effects.

Subsidies for renewable-energy producers that are financed in part through household electricity bills are causing electricity prices for ordinary consumers and industry to rise. Germany's biggest industrial power consumers have seen electricity prices per kilowatt hour rise nearly 40% in the past five years, according to the Cologne Institute for Economic Research, also known as IW. Electricity prices for industry are nearly 15% higher than the average in the 27-nation European Union, IW said.

"We have reached the pain threshold," said Michael Hüther, IW's director. He added that data show that energy-intensive industries are already beginning to curtail investment in Germany because of higher electricity charges.

"We are beginning to observe a creeping disinvestment," he said.

As the country turns its back on nuclear power, it is also seeing its carbon emissions rise. Long a leader in cutting carbon-dioxide emissions, Germany's emissions rose 1.6% last year, according to the Environment Ministry, the first rise in years.

It is unclear what immediate impact increased natural-gas supplies would have on German electricity bills. Still, the availability of cheaper natural gas could help avert a large-scale return to coal in 2020. That is the year that Germany will shut down about six nuclear power stations and many of the country's coal-fired power plants will also shut down due to age. A plentiful supply of domestic natural gas could provide a better bridge fuel to replace nuclear power as Germany continues to build its alternative energy supply, say analysts.

If fracking is ultimately banned in Germany, analysts warn that Germany could miss out on a broader European energy boom. Eastern European countries like Poland and Ukraine have large shale deposits and are keen to exploit them.

Experts don't believe Germany has the kind of massive shale-gas deposits that are transforming the U.S. energy market. But there could be enough natural gas trapped underground to meet Germany's gas needs for about 50 years, based on the current rate of gas consumption, at costs below what Germany now pays for imported gas, analysts say.

So far, Ms. Merkel has sided with her wary public, expressing doubts about the viability of fracking in Germany and pledging to allow it only if it can be proven entirely safe. Ms. Merkel is trying to please the broader public, which surveys show is frightened by fracking, while not alienating industry, which is lobbying the government to do something about Germany's soaring energy costs.

"The compromise here is to allow for pilot projects to do testing," said Miranda Schreurs, director of the Berlin-based Environmental Policy Research Center and an adviser to the German government on the issue. "The government is trying to keep the door open for fracking to be able to say that if they do it, it will be safe."

Germany's energy industry welcomed the fact that the government has shied away from an outright ban on any fracking. The government's proposals are a compromise between the environment minister, who initially wanted to ban fracking, and the economy minister, who wants to allow it. Industry sees the compromise as a step that would allow for some testing and which could help determine whether fracking is harmful to the environment.

"Only at the end [of testing] will we be able to judge using all relevant criteria whether this makes sense—economically, environmentally, and regarding its acceptance by society," a spokesman for chemical and energy group BASF AG BAS.XE -0.48%said. "To do that, we need the framework which is now being established."

Germany's powerful environmental lobby says the government's proposals don't go far enough and demand an outright ban. The opposition Green Party called the government's move a smoke screen. "It's like banning skiing in the Sahara," said Oliver Krischer, a Green Party member of parliament. "An environmental-impact study, which is also embraced by the gas industry, will do little."

Write to William Boston at william.boston@dowjones.com

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Comment by Barry @ SaveOurSeaShore on March 4, 2013 at 9:43am

Penny,   When is the world going to wake up to the FACT that renewables Solar and Wind don't work! Nuclear is the only unlimited source of 100% available power that produces ZERO CO2. Wind and solar work 10-30% of the time! Conservation and efficiency are currently TEN TIMES more cost effective and work 100% of the time. They don't kill animals. In California 10% of the Golden Eagle population is killed by Industrial Wind Turbines EVERY YEAR...THEY ARE THE NUMBER ONE KILLER. What about this don't you get! 

If you want to lower CO2 use the smart path not the proven costly false path. In Germany their only solution now is the frack Natural Gas as the billions they have spent on renewables, don't work and CO2 is INCREASING. DID YOU SEE! CO2 output went up....because, let me repeat wind and solar work 10-30% of the time....what is your plan for the other 70-90% of the time?  You miss the point! The sunset sets...the wind doesn't blow. Even the head one of the largest wind energy company in Europe and god father of the German Greens movement Fritz Vahrenholt has declared that wind and solar don't work with current possible technology and are a FAILURE. HE QUITE AS CEO! Did I dispute Global warming...NO... I showed you wind and solar and reduction of nuclear, increase CO2 and drastically raise prices...hurting poor people. 

Please Defend your position of why costly ineffective wind and solar which increase CO2 is GOOD?  Why industrial Wind Turbine which kill up to 300 birds and bats a year each and work 10-30% of time are good for the environment. Can you go see an engineering who will explain that the highly variable nature of wind requires that base load electrical generators to run at a much lower efficiency with HIGHER CO2 output...than if you just ran 100% baseload Natural Gas. Why wind energy causes higher total out nitrous and Sulfur dioxide! Go read the report about Texas ERCOT experience ..or reason why Germany after 10's of billion in renewable spending would see an increase in CO2 output.  Wish and give away money...isn't a plan. Just because government bribe their people to install solar and wind doesn't mean it can overcome physics. 

Did you see me mention anything about global warming? You are being duped to stupidly spend money. Did you know in the Northeastern United State over electricity demand is going down... because of efficiency ...which is cost effective with little to know harm...no new wires, no destroyed open space no birds & bats killed, no people harmed, no investment banks receiving outrageous tax credits for useless machines, no politicians like Maine leaving their governorship to soak up billions in giveaways! What say you?

Comment by Penny Melko on March 3, 2013 at 11:51pm

When is this world going to wake up to the simple fact that continuing to heat the atmosphere with fossil fuels is insane. 99% of all scientists concur that much is caused by fossil fuels. 1% disagree. Does anyone really believe that these 99% scientists are lying? Causing the extinction to our environment to save the environment is equally as insane.  A natural disaster in Japan caused severe damage to their nuclear sites and radiation is still leaking a year later. Nuclear is not an answer either.  Came across a video of what is happening in Lousiana where oil has been stored in massive salt deposits. 

Rachel Maddow talks about oil shale extraction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZktplJfRJQ
One of our friendly opposition groups recently posted an article that directly addresses the gaping fatal flaws of wind energy. http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2012/10/destroying_nature_in_o...
The Mojave Desert in the west is now under attack to install thermal solar between 2 national wildlands that both the House of Representatives and Senate approved in 1994 to preserve for future generations. 
World leaders have failed on so many levels it is incalculable. This energy scam needs to stop.

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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