how electricity became a luxury good - ess energy storage system

Germany's aggressive and reckless expansion of wind and solar power has brought high prices to consumers, and costs often fall out of proportion on the poor.
Government advisers are calling for a fresh start.
If you want to do a big thing, you must start with a small thing.
The German Minister of the environment, Peter Altai Maier, knows this very well.
The politician is part of the center.
Right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
, Developed a practical tip manual on how everyone can make small daily contributions to moving from nuclear energy to green energy. The so-
Called Energiewende--
Literally "energy turnover"-
Chancellor Merkel's century plan.
"Join in and start today," Altmaier wrote in the introduction . ".
He then turned to daily activities such as baking and cooking.
"Avoid preheating and utilization of waste heat," suggested Altmaier . ".
Television viewers can also save a lot of power, though at the expense of image quality.
"You can reduce brightness and contrast, for example," suggested his brochure . ".
The mission of Altai Maier and others is to help people save money on electricity bills as they are about to receive some bad news.
The government expects the additional renewable energy surcharge for each consumer's electricity bill to increase from £ 5.
Between 3 and 6 cents today. 2 and 6.
5 cents per kilowatt hour-a 20-
Percentage price increase
German consumers have already paid Europe's highest electricity bill.
But as the government fails to control the cost of its new energy policy, price increases are imminent.
In Germany, electricity is becoming a luxury and one of Germany's most important futures --
Project-oriented risks are high.
Two and a half years ago, after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, Merkel quickly decided to start phasing out nuclear energy and lead Japan into the era of wind and solar energy.
But many Germans are now aware of Merkel's CDU and her coalition government with Germany.
Liberal Democratic Party of Commerce (FDP)
I can't cope with this change.
Of course, this does not mean that the public has more confidence in the potential alliance of the center.
Democratic Party of left-wing society (SPD)and the Greens.
The political world is sandwiched between green-
The energy lobby, disguised as the world's savior, and established power companies, have issued terrible warnings about chaotic supply problems and unemployment. Even well-
Informed citizens can no longer track all the additional fees imposed on them.
According to the government, the surcharge for financing the power grid will increase by 0. 2 to 0.
4 cents per kilowatt hour next year.
In addition, consumers will pay a lot of taxes, surcharges and other fees, which will give consumers a headache.
Former Green Party Environment Minister Jurgen Tritten has claimed that changing Germany to renewable energy would not cost citizens a spoonful of ice cream.
Today, his successor, Altai Maier, admitted that consumers have paid enough money to "eat everything on the ice cream menu ".
"For society as a whole, the cost has reached a level equal to the euro --zone bailouts.
German consumers will be forced to pay 20 billion euros this year ($26 billion)
Electricity from solar, wind and biogas power plants-
The market price is slightly higher than 3 billion euros in electricity.
If you include all the unexpected costs and collateral damage associated with the project, even the € 20 billion figure is controversial.
Solar panels and wind turbines sometimes generate a lot of power, sometimes not at all.
Depending on the weather and the time of day, the country may face an absurd state of excess or shortage of energy.
If there is too much power coming from the grid, the wind turbines must be shut down.
Still, consumers are paying for the "virtual power" that the turbines theoretically generate.
Sometimes, Germany has to pay to dump the green energy that has been subsidized, which has caused what experts call a "negative electricity price ".
"On the other hand, supply becomes scarce when the wind suddenly stops blowing, especially in the cold season.
When both heavy oil and coal power plants were fired to bridge the divide, that's why German energy producers actually released a climate in 2012.
Destroy the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than in 2011.
If there is still a shortage of electricity, energy-
Hungry factories such as the ancelormittal steel plant in Hamburg are sometimes asked to shut down production to protect the grid.
Of course, ordinary power customers will be expected to pay for the compensation that these businesses are entitled to due to loss of profits.
The government has high hopes for expanding offshore wind farms.
But construction sites are in a state of chaos: Wind turbines near the North Sea island of Borkum are currently spinning without being connected to the grid.
The connection cable may not be completed until next year.
At the same time, diesel is being used to prevent the turbine from rust.
In the current campaign, parties are blaming each other for the disaster.
At the same time, the federal government would prefer to avoid a full discussion of its energy policy.
"This leaves us facing criticism," a government spokesman said . "
A member of the cabinet admitted: "There is no denying that there are major problems . "
But this week, the issue is forcing it to go on the agenda.
A government on Thursday
The sanctioned committee plans to submit a special report called "competition in the energy transition period.
"This report is very critical, believing that Germany's current system actually rewards the most efficient factories, does not help to protect the climate, endangers energy supply and puts the poor at a disadvantage.
Experts suggested that the system be changed to a model similar to Sweden's long-term success.
If implemented, more than 4,000 different subsidies currently available will be canceled.
They will be allowed to develop independently in a separate market, rather than setting green energy prices by bureaucrats.
The authors of the report believe that the Swedish model will lead to faster and cheaper implementation of renewable energy, and that the system will also be what it is today: social justice.
When Stefan Becker of the Catholic charity's Berlin office called him, he was happy to bring some energy --saving bulbs.
Many residents still use old bulbs, which consume a lot of electricity but are cheaper than new ones.
"People here have to make a decision between spending money on expensive energy --
"Save light bulbs or hot meals," says Becker . ".
In other words, it's good to save energy. -
But only if people can afford it.
One family that Becker recently visited is an example.
They live in a dark land.
Floor apartments in newklin block, Berlin.
In a sunny summer the two kids inside had to turn on the lights-
Even if the family is using energy, it will raise the electricity bill. saving bulbs.
Becker wanted to stop his clients from losing power because they didn't pay their bills.
After some warning notice, the power company usually sends someone to the apartment to turn off the power. -
Customers who do not have a fridge, stove or bathroom fan.
Unless they happen to have a camping stove, they can't even boil a cup of tea.
It's like living in the Stone Age.
Once the power is off, it's hard to turn it on again.
The customer must negotiate the payment plan and also charge a reconnection fee of up to euro.
"When people get late payment notifications in the spring, our phone starts to ring," Becker said . ".
In the near future, the average 3-
Household electricity costs about 90 euros per month.
This is about twice the size of 2000. Two-
The third reason for the price increase is the new government fees, surcharges and taxes.
But despite rising prices, government spending on pensions and social welfare has not been adjusted.
So every new expense is a threat to low prices.
Consumer income.
Consumer advocates and aid groups for energy taxes say a tipping point has been reached.
Today, more than 300,000 families lose power each year due to unpaid bills.
Ming AI and other charities call it "energy poverty ".
On the other hand, lawmakers largely ignored the phenomenon.
At the final legislative stage, the government and the opposition held a heated debate on increasing the long-term payment of 5 euros. Long-term unemployment.
But no one has noticed the fact that the recipients of these benefits will subsequently see the additional 5 euros run out of higher electricity charges.
How renewable energy subsidies are reallocating funds from the poor to the richer, has gradually become apparent, just as people living in small rental apartments subsidize the roof of homeowners --
Install solar panels through his electricity bill.
The Social Democratic Party, which considers itself a party of the working class, has long neglected the retrogression of the system.
The Green party of high earners continues to do so.
Germany's renewable energy policy is particularly unfair in terms of economy.
About 2,300 companies are largely exempt from green energy surcharges by claiming they face severe international competition.
However, companies with smaller lobbying forces need to pay a surcharge.
At least in this regard, all political parties in Germany are pushing for change.
They want to plug the hole and allocate the cost of clean energy subsidies more widely.
But even this improvement will bring relatively small economic benefits to citizens.
According to the plan of the Social Democratic Party, an ordinary family saves only 70 cents a month. -
Slightly less than the plan put forward by Environment Minister Altai Maier a few months ago.
Ultimately, the factors that really push up costs will not be affected: the casual expansion of wind and solar energy.
In the North Sea, Sea traps about 70 kilometers away (43 miles)
From the island of nordeni, there is a large, bright yellow steel box.
It is as wide as the Brandenburg Gate and taller than the federal office building.
It is essentially a huge power outlet that collects electricity from nearby offshore wind farms and is transmitted to the mainland via a coarse cable.
The system, along with the cable, cost the grid operator Tennet about 1 billion euros and has a design life of 20 years, although there is no data to show that this is the case.
According to an official at Tennet, the company has no experience with such a system.
It only knows one thing: there are always obstacles on the road.
As far as maritime projects in Germany are concerned, the current obstacles include weather and dolphins.
On the rough sea, the work of the wind farm was suspended.
This is also true when dolphins and their cubs are found, as building noise can damage their sensitive hearing.
As a result, there are still many places where metal stumps stand out from the water, not wind turbines.
Still, the government is pushing ahead with its plans for wind power, which is amazing.
By 2020, the generation of wind turbines at sea is expected to reach 10 gigawatts, which is theoretically equivalent to eight nuclear power plants.
To attract investors, the government has created the best possible subsidy conditions to pay operators 19 cents per kilowatt
An hour of Sea Power, about 50% more than land power
Based on the wind farm.
The government also assumed the risk of liability for wind farm operators.
If something goes wrong, the cost will be borne by the taxpayer.
Although the plan is attractive to engineers, it is a potential disaster economically.
Experts believe that due to the more challenging conditions, the cost of generating electricity from offshore wind turbines will continue to be two to three times the cost of generating electricity on land.
Although the wind at sea is more stable, it is far from offsetting higher costs.
The less obvious cost is also high.
There is little demand for electricity in the sparsely populated coastal areas. New high-
The delivery of energy to industrial centers in western and southern Germany will require a voltage power cord.
The government has estimated the cost of expanding the grid at € 20 billion, excluding additional marine cables for offshore wind power.
If the government insists on its plan, electricity prices will rise sharply in the next few years.
According to a current federal government study, the cost of electricity per kilowatt will be as high as 40 cents.
2020, 40-
A few percent higher than today's price.
To make matters worse, it is not clear whether offshore facilities are needed.
The federal environment agency believes that it is enough to install modern turbines in the best land wind farms.
It will also be cheaper.
But even so, the environment minister still thinks consumers can expect prices to rise.
Experts say the slight impact of wind energy on current prices is due to an uncooperative nature: 2013 so far is an unusually windless year.
Dresden sebaude Reservoir is the largest and most popular open reservoir in Dresdenair pool.
There are up to 8,000 sunbathing lounges on the beach during the summer, or at 10,000-square-meter (2. 5-acre)lake.
Cossebaude is also part of the huge Niederwartha pumped storage hydropower station.
At night or on weekends, when there is enough power, the lake water is pumped into the second reservoir 140 above the main reservoir through a large pipeline.
At noon, when the electricity is short, the water is released from the height.
The reservoir above sea level rotates the giant turbine when it drops.
The system generates electricity when the cost is high and the cost is low.
Vattenfall, the operator of the nuclear power plant, makes its profit difference.
When the plant was connected to the grid in November 1929, it was considered the technology of the future.
Now, the power plant and the leisure lake attached to it may soon disappear.
The company plans to shut down its energy storage facilities in the next two years.
This is bad news for swimmers in Dresden, but it is especially bad for Germany's energy transformation, as Germany's energy transformation relies on backup power plants such as nidewata.
When the sun is not bright and the wind is not blowing, the air-
This gap should be filled by thermal power plants and pumped storage power stations.
A key formula behind Energiewende is that the more green energy is produced, the more reserves are needed to avoid bottlenecks.
This is correct in theory, but not in practice.
On the contrary, an ironic result of the expansion of green energy is that many reliable pumped storage power stations may be forced out of the market.
There are about 20 power plants in Germany, and Vattenfall is the most important operator.
These factories have been very profitable for utilities for decades, but now the business has become very unreliable.
Dresden is a good example.
When the weather is clear and people are most likely to go to the lake, there is enough solar energy and the electricity price drops.
This means that the income of the pumped storage power station has decreased, so the power plant has been shut down.
In 2009, for example, the turbine in niedvasa ran for 2,784 hours.
Last year, Vattenfall was operating for only 277 hours.
"The price peaks that last only a few hours are not enough to make the most of the plant," said Gunnar Groebler, head of the German hydro unit at Vattenfall.
Surprisingly, the company is investing very little in pumped storage power stations today.
At nidewata, the building was full of mildew from early floods, paint fell off the walls and the reservoir leaked.
Vattenfall will spend 0. 15 billion euros to modernize the factory.
But executives are hesitant to worry that they will not be able to recover the money with future profits.
Vattenfall also brakes elsewhere, such as Geesthacht in the suburbs of Hamburg.
Plans to increase the capacity of existing reservoirs have been put on hold.
Instead, the factory is only used as a backup.
At the same time, competitors RWE and EnBW have also put on hold plans to build large pumped storage power stations in the Southern Black Forest.
Trianel, an association of about 100 municipal utilities, withdrew from a similar project at Lake Rursee in the West eiel mountains at the end of June.
All of this confirms the claim that Germany's energy reform is its biggest enemy.
Despite the unstable expansion of wind and solar projects, the backup power capacity required for these projects remains insufficient.
A study found that the expansion of renewable energy in Germany will require an additional storage capacity of 20 to 30 billion kilowatts. hours by 2050.
Storage capacity has increased by only 70 million so far-hours.
Few people are interested in maintaining existing storage facilities.
At least this is not the case in Dresden, where the grassroots movement is working to keep the old pumped storage facilities open ---
Part of the reason is the popular swimming lake.
More and more wind turbines are starting in Germany, solar panels are sunbathing in the sun, but last year the number of pollutants and greenhouse gases emitted by chimneys has increased.
This dramatic event shift is particularly evident in the town of groscotzenburg east of Frankfurt.
Duseldorf, Germany's largest energy supplier-based E.
On AG, it has been running a large coal company.
The power plant in Fort glazotan for many years.
The oldest of the five units in the Staudinger factory was built in 1965, in a ridiculous 32-
Percentage of efficiency level. Even at E.
Now, the Staudinger factory is considered "completely unacceptable" in terms of economy and environment ". "State-of-the-art gas-
Like a power plant in the Bavarian town of Irsching, coal-fired power plants operate almost twice as efficiently as coal-fired power plants, about 60%.
They are also more flexible and emit much less carbon dioxide.
That might explain why.
When the operating license for the oldest of the five units of Staudinger expired in January, officials were not particularly upset. 1 of this year.
E. said: "For the sake of safety, we have repeatedly notified the relevant authorities that we are shutting down the device . "
CEO Johannes Tyson
When the regulator did not object, the company began to dismantle key components of the power plant and move employees to other locations. E.
On plans to complete the work by the end of this year and dismantle the ancient plants left behind.
But in the June 30 s, when E.
On received a letter from the grid operators associated with the plant, Tennet and regulators.
In order to keep the power grid stable, the unit that needs to read this letter, E.
We will rebuild the operational readiness of this coal plant without delay.
This is one of the most curious developments in Germany's energy reform story.
The country's most polluted power plants are now also the most profitable: old and unrelated brown coal-fired power plants.
Many factories are now running at full capacity.
This has left a stain on German environmental statistics.
The generation of renewable energy has risen by 10.
2% in 2012, the first year of implementation of the new energy policy, the power generation of hard coal and brown coal power plants also increased by 5%.
As a result, Germany's carbon dioxide emissions actually increased by 2% in 2012.
Secretary of the environment, Altai Maier, who was clearly frustrated, said: "This development cannot be a trend.
"But experts expect that if Altai Maier is still in office, he will be humiliated again by the end of this year.
A study released last week by the Federal Network Agency shows that the energy generated by brown coal will remain almost stable, reaching 148 tawatts.
Until 2022.
The frustrating conclusion is that Brown Coal's competitive position "will hardly be weakened by the increase in the share of renewable energy in hybrid energy ".
"Sometimes the best ideas are necessary except for Swedes.
At the very least, when Gustav ebenner looked back at the turn of the millennium and Sweden entered the era of green energy, he saw that.
His belongings are suffering from the impact of the economic crisis.
"One thing is clear," recalls experts from the Swedish Energy Agency . ".
"Renewable energy must be developed as a cost --
As effective as possible.
Sweden has established a government-based system.
Legal quota and certificate market for green energy.
"In a sense, our model at that time was the opposite of Germany's subsidy plan," said ebeno, who has lived in Germany for many years, who knows very well about Germany's energy reform.
The Swedish model has the upper hand in the concept of competition.
Under this model, KW
Clean electricity for one hour is only 10% more than traditional electricity.
"This means that our consumers are paying only a fraction of what the Germans are going into the era of renewable energy," Eben said . ".
Still, Sweden is moving fast as green energy expands.
45% of the country's electricity comes from hydropower plants.
Thanks to the subsidy regime, biomass energy and wind turbines have contributed about 10% to the energy mix in recent years.
Norway implemented the Swedish system last year.
But can this model be applied to Germany?
The members of the committee appointed by the German government believe it is OK and will submit a detailed plan to Economic Minister Philip Rosler on Thursday.
The plan was developed by economist Justus Haucap and legal expert Jürgen kühling and got Rhenish-
Westphalia Institute of Economics (RWI)
School of Science and Engineering, Germany (Acatech).
Experts recommend that the government implement green energy quotas for energy providers and gradually increase this quota according to its renewable energy production target.
The deadline will be January. 1, 2015.
In the following 12 months, 27.
5% of electricity will come from renewable sources, followed by 29% in 2016 and 35% in 2020.
However, the choice of their respective sources of clean energy will depend on the individual energy companies and municipal utilities.
In the committee's view, energy suppliers should decide how to use the funds for wind, solar or biomass energy.
Municipal utilities will seek the lowest price for clean electricity.
This will encourage competition between offshore and terrestrial wind power, as well as between solar and biomass, and prices will drop to benefit customers.
In Sweden, the system maintains the integrity of the system, ensuring that investments by power companies automatically flow into technologies they consider to be the most costlyeffective.
This is not necessarily the cheapest technology for a given time.
But like any ordinary company, Swedish utilities are also interested in maximizing returns on investment.
This is different in Germany, where the most time efficient technology is the most subsidized, and based on strange logic, it has to enter the market for a particularly long period of time.
In order to prevent energy suppliers from deceiving the quota model, Sweden asked them to submit a certain number of green energy certificates.
1 MW per certificate
Clean electricity for an hour.
Those who cannot prove that they have reached the quota will be subject to high fines.
According to the usual rules of the market economy, the rest depends on supply and demand.
When the electricity generation of green energy is low, there are fewer certificates in the market and the price increases.
This in turn inspires investors to build more wind turbines or solar cells.
They can also invest their money in storage systems, which can improve the efficiency of energy production.
Or, they can invest in technology that doesn't work in Germany today, but is being studied elsewhere in the world.
Swedish energy minister Anna-
Karin Hatt, the biggest benefit of the quota model is that it contains few bureaucratic restrictions.
The government defines goals, not methods.
Compared with the German system, the government has not been forced to constantly adjust the subsidy rates for wind, solar and biomass.
"Therefore, the energy market does not depend on new political decisions every year," Hart said . "
"Investors in renewable energy attach great importance to this predictability.
"In heavily forested Sweden, energy suppliers initially focused on biomass in the form of wood and paper industry waste.
They use this material to fuel traditional power plants that generate electricity and supply electricity for a long time.
Heating from residents.
But this potential has now been exhausted, which is why the industry has turned to the construction or modernization of wind farms. -
Much of it is on land, ebeno said, "because offshore turbines are still very expensive.
"In Germany, the quota model could also lead to more wind turbines built on land.
Government expansion targets for offshore wind power will no longer be feasible-
There are good reasons.
Due to challenging environments, the technology is prone to failure and construction costs far from the coast are very high.
To make matters worse, electricity must also be transmitted hundreds of kilometers nationwide.
It is clear that the next German government will have to plan a shift in energy policy.
But given bad forecasts and unfulfilled promises, electricity prices are a toxic issue in the campaign.
In a government statement on June 2011, German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to keep prices stable.
"Renewable energy surcharges should not exceed current levels," Merkel said in the German Bundestag . ".
Russia's economy minister rosller says there may even be room to cut energy taxes.
When the price went up, Rossler and then Environment Minister Norbert Logan transferred responsibility instead of coming up with a solution.
After the parliamentary elections, no party had a coherent concept of how to deal with the issue. 22.
The current proposals are too simple and disturbing.
Altai Maier and CDU are considering paying green energy subsidies for next year with borrowed funds in order to postpone the next price increase for several months.
Gerda Hasselfeldt, member of the Christian society alliance of the Bavarian sister party of CDU (CSU)
In this way, the next generation will bear at least some costs.
According to her proposal, the government
KfW development bank will bear part of the cost of solar panels and wind turbines.
The money can then be repaid within the next 40 years.
The proposals made by the Social Democratic Party, the Green Party and the FDP are equivalent to reducing electricity charges or value --added tax.
However, this does not solve the structural problem, which requires a thorough reform of the government committee.
The problem is that the next government must be willing to conflict with powerful interest groups in the power industry.
Ahead of this issue at the next legislative stage, Environment Minister Altai Maier is more willing to use some money to get consumers on the road --
Save tip: "I will try to cover the lid when I cook.