Germany is bringing back some of its coal power plants online ahead of the winter season amid concerns about a potential shortage of natural gas supplies. Germany has cracked down on its coal power plants as part of transitioning out from fossil fuel energy. However, as the Russia-Ukraine war dented gas supplies from Moscow and […]
Germany increased renewables while decreasing nuclear and coal. When they shut down the last reactors that had to this point contributed less than 1,6% of the produced electricity coal instantly decreased more. Because those reactors contributing basically nothing still got renewables shut off at times. Germany’s coal use is at an historic low.
And at the same time everyone tells the fairy tale about the insane Germans trying to kill the planet by using more coal. That’s bullshit but it’s very well paid bullshit. Because the nuclear lobbyists pay to promote the story of how there is no alternative to nuclear power and fossil fuel lobbyists promote the story of how reducing coal isn’t working and you should stop trying.
PS: Also every country is restarting reactors in autumn as a reserve (and barely running) should they be needed in winter at some point. France for example did restart coal power plants last year at the same time as they weren’t sure they can get everything nuclear in order until winter (after they burned massive amounts of gas and forced neighbours to do the same to keep their grid stable… in the middle of a gas crisis). But that isn’t reported, because it’s not the desired narrrative.
For Reference:
Germany power production 1990-2020
“The amount of electricity generated from fossil and conventional energy sources decreased by 12.2% in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period last year. The largest decrease, 22%, was measured for electricity generation from coal.”
2022 vs. first half fo 2023
That’s the reality.
But hey… Germany is increasing coal use! They are insane! Cheer for me for parroting our most popular lie about the evil Germans!
And some fun facts for good measure:
Germany’s nuclear power production at its peak was never above 30% and given the increase in electricity demand in those 30 years even if they kept all those reactors forever it would still be irrelvant low today. But it’s good for propaganda to pretend otherwise
Germany while actively exiting nuclear power reduced nuclear power generation by less than France in the same time frame, just because they couldn’t keep all old their old reactors alive.
France today has not nearly enough nuclear power just to cover the minimal required base load of projected demand by 2050. (They also will need 14 completely new big reactors -not the 6 with optionally another 8, but the full set- to get there.) That’s the actual amount necessary to invest in nuclear.
Which also means basically any single country claiming to go for a nuclear solution is bullshitting you. Because they all don’t plan to build even remotely enough to ever cover base load. Why aren’t they? Because nobody has a clue how to foot that bill.
Also every nuclear model is actually a nuclear base load plus renewable model. Yet for some reason the exact same countries talking loudly about nuclear also lack the necessary renewables. Totally not caused by propaganda of course…
And at the end the not-so-fun fact: There is actually one thing you can criticise. The priority of reducing hard coal before lignite. But that’s caused by geopolitical factors (it’s domestic) and the fact that we inherited East Germany where lignite is sadly a big economic factor in some regions. One of the few relevant economy factors remaining in Eastern Germany. Just like cutting off Russian pipeline oil wasn’t a problem of oil per se but of Eastern German industries who build their existence on those deliveries even before the reunion.
Any level of coal use at this point should be criticized. Many other grids have found ways to eliminate. We can argue about whether or not it was caused by nuclear policy but those are the facts and I will continue to do so until they start taking this seriously.
No, not “until” they take this seriously. There was a new government taking office in 2021 and it happened two years ago.
And guess what also happened exactly two years ago with a government not delaying and sabotaging the energy transition anymore… Yeah, the narratives started of how Germany is complete failing and actually increasing coal use (although numbers show the opposite) because that insane new government is trying a green transition that will never work. And how renewables are actually increasing energy prizes because they got rid of cheap coal and nuclear… the latter out out their insane ideology and totally not because it was planned for a decade and was a done deal when they came into office… yadda, yadda…
And now take a step back and look at what narratives are actually pushed constantly… and you might understand what is happening and why it’s rediculous. People who claim to want green energy are in reality used to parrot the proven lies spread by coal lobbyists that only want people to give up on changes and nuclear lobbyists that will never actually have a part in decarbonisation in the next decade unless a country started building nuclear decades ago.
I assume you are okay with me making a note on congratulating you personally in about 2 more years for being part of a 4 year propaganda campaign that brought the removed morons back into office to stop that failing energy transtion project and stay with coal for another 20 years at least. Yes, the exact same guys who actually spend the last decades shutting down nuclear, while -also purely accidently of course- this gets blamed on a daily basis on brain-damaged green ideology by people who actually came into office less than 2 weeks before the final shutdown started. The same guys that spread the fairy tales about Germany increasing coal mining when those mining projects were also contracted more than 10 years ago and the new government actually renegotiated the whole deal to stop now and not demolish another dozen villages in the next decade… I wonder why again this wasn’t the actual news earlier this year and everyone worked so hard here to parrot the tale of how Germany demolished the village of Lützerath to increase their coal use. Just like I wonder if anyone of those people can name the villages before or all the ones not destroyed now. Isn’t propaganda impressive…
I have personally been saying exactly this for many years ago so it’s not something that magically appeared two years ago. If the new government was really serious about changing course they could have stopped the most recent shutdowns earlier this year. But like every other ruling party in Germany (and to be fair, in the rest of the world too), they are not taking the climate emergency as seriously as is needed.
None of this should be taken as excusing or supporting the far more dangerous policies of the conservative parties. But their existence does not make anyone immune to criticism.