sun in Germany

Here's a bit of moaning that was supposed to be aired together with the inaugural rant of the week last Friday. But then Mr. President took too much space. So here it goes. A few days late and out of sequence but not yet out of time.

Der Spiegel, the German newsweekly with the worst online edition (colorful in topic, addictive in pulse, but oftentimes painfully poorly written and researched), put an article online last week describing the mess our previous government bequeathed upon us, the people. I voted, by the way, so I have something to say on the topic. I am the people. (Remind me to write about that one as well! I can't believe it's been 20 years.)

Anyway, our previous government – which did not even include the Green Party – tried to turn Germany into the world leader in solar technology. Nothing bad about that, except how it was done. Consumers were financially encouraged to put photovoltaic installations onto their roofs. The utilities were required to purchase any excess power that was generated for an inflated rate (five times the going rate for conventional power at the moment), guaranteed for decades, which the whole country pays for by way of higher overall rates. The cost is expected in the tens of billions of euros.

If this were for environmental benefit, it might be ok. But it's not. In Germany, it rains a lot and clouds prevail a good share of the time. There's not nearly as much sun as in some other place, like Syria, where I've just been. What happened is that Germany cornered the world market for solar panels, bought them nearly as fast as the Chinese could make them and sent prices skyward for what was left. The Syrians and other feeble but sunny economies were out in the cold. Green power was too expensive for them, even though they could produce it efficiently and wouldn't struggle over years to recover the energy that was spent to make the panels in the first place. In the right place, solar power is green. In Germany, it is nonsense.

And yet, photovoltaic cells continue to be seen as a panacea for clear energy and energy independence. That's probably because they are easy to market. Every concerned customer can allay his guilt about flying to Palma for a weekend in the sun or getting this big new T.V. by bolting three solar panels to his roof. All problems solved. But no, no, no, they're not.

Solar power must first of all be generated where there's sun. Middle East, Arabia, Africa, Spain, to name some places around here. How would Hans benefit? Have the German utilities invest where the sun shines and then bring the electricity back, wrapped up in fat DC cables. The plans are in the drawers, ready to go.

In fact, I just read that Desertec is going to launch this year, aspiring to supply electrical power generated in concentrated solar power plants to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The technology is much different from solar panels and certainly worth learning about. It's been working for nearly 25 years in the Mojave Desert and for a while in Spain. I'd have nothing to moan if this project took off.