Which EU country has finally generated so much renewable energy that it’s giving it away free? – Scottish Energy News

Older readers may recall the phrase – if not the period – back in the
middle of last century during the heady, happy heydays of the nuclear
industry when it was proclaimed that nuclear electricity would be ‘too
cheap to meter’.

This never did come to pass in the 70-odd years (and they are very odd)
since nuclear power horrifically blasted its way on to the world stage.

But now, in a much more peaceful way, Germany has produced an abundance of
clean wind-generated electricity that is – if not too cheap to meter – so
beneficent that it is giving it away.

Last week, a stormy weekend led to free electricity in Germany as wind
generation reached a record, forcing power producers to pay customers the
most since Christmas 2012 to use electricity.

Power prices turned negative as wind output reached 39,409 megawatts on
Saturday, equivalent to the output of about 40 nuclear reactors.

To keep the grid supply and demand in balance, negative prices encourage
producers to either shut power stations or else pay consumers to take the
extra electricity off the network.

Unlike in definitely not-barmy Brexit Britain, those crazy Germans have
ended state subsidies for nuclear energy and invested in clean, green,
renewable power – where one of the ‘crazy’ by-products is that Germany can
still maintain an export-led global automotive manufacturing industry
thanks to lower energy prices…