Les limites du solaire: Après le cas de l'Espagne, autour de l'Allemagne
Germany’s solar experiment collapses:
Germany once prided itself on being the “photovoltaic world champion,” doling out generous subsidies — totalling more than US$130-billion — to citizens to invest in solar energy.
But now the German government is vowing to cut the subsidies sooner than planned, and to phase out support over the next five years. What went wrong?
Germany’s Minister of Economics and Technology, has called the spiralling solar subsidies a “threat to the economy.”.
Germany’s enthusiasm for solar power is understandable. We could satisfy all of the world’s energy needs for an entire year if we could capture just one hour of the sun’s energy. Even with the inefficiency of current PV technology, we could meet the entire globe’s energy demand with solar panels by covering 250,000 square kilometres, about 2.6% of the Sahara Desert.
Unfortunately, Germany — like most of the world — is not as sunny as the Sahara. And, while sunlight is free, panels and installation are not. Solar power is at least four times more costly than energy produced by fossil fuels. It also has the distinct disadvantage of not working at night, when much electricity is consumed.
In the words of the German Association of Physicists, “solar energy cannot replace any additional power plants.”
On short, overcast winter days, Germany’s 1.1 million solar-power systems can generate no electricity at all. The country is then forced to import considerable amounts of electricity from nuclear power plants in France and the Czech Republic. When the sun failed to shine last winter, one emergency back-up plan powered up an Austrian oil-fired plant to fill the supply gap.
Indeed, despite the massive investment, solar power accounts for only about 0.3% of Germany’s total energy. This is one of the key reasons why Germans now pay the second-highest price for electricity in the developed world.
More at: http://opinion.financialpost.com/2012/02/21/bjorn-lomborg-germanys-solar-experiment-collapses/
Commentaires (7)
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Le solaire est loin d’être au point. Mais ce ne sera pas le cas pour longtemps.
Notre atmosphère absorbe des milliers fois la quantité totale d’énergie consommée par la terre pour la même période de temps. Si on pourrait convertir ne serait-ce que 0.01% de cette énergie, ça équivaudrait déjà à beaucoup plus qu’on consomme sur la planète (toute formes d’énergie confondue). Mais bon, c’est pas si simple mais on y viendra. Ce n’est pas théoriquement impossible.
En attendant, on peut facilement installer des tubes solaires sur son toit et hiver comme été ça fournit l’eau chaude nécéssaire et peut même être utilisé dans des radiateurs à eau. Ces tubes contiennent un glycol si je me souviens et je l’ai vu en action. 15 minutes au soleil et l’eau versé dessus s’évapore instantanément. L’investissement vaut le coup.
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First Solar shares tumble on cutback plans
Company swings to a loss, plans to scale back some operations
The company said in a conference call that it would idle a plant in Germany because of dropping demand there, and would discontinue work on a proposed solar facility in Vietnam. Its manufacturing plants also will reduce utilization to roughly 60% to 70% from their previous levels of 80%.
“These actions may not be sufficient to reduce production so additional actions may be necessary as we continue to adjust production capacity to match expected market demand,” Mark Widmar, First Solar’s CFO.
First Solar officials said the company currently is seeing much of its business in Germany being cut back because of reductions in government subsidies along with a maturing of that market.
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Le coût des énergies vertes refilé directement aux consommateurs???
Après l’Espagne, l’Allemagne et l’Ontario, au tour des Etat-Unis???
http://www.forumschiste.com/discussion/cout-des-energies-vertes-refille-directement-aux-consommateurs
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Roadblocks to solar ... Very interesting article ...
March 21, 2012, 6:36 p.m. EDT
Solar’s cruel twist for California power firms
Utilities could seize on cheaper prices, but roadblocks remain...
‘Illusion of percentages’
But Edison’s Ulrich says while meeting the goal may seem easy enough, the math involved in getting from the current 20% to the 33% goal isn’t that simple. For starters, the main hang-up for solar energy is that it exists only as long as the sun is in the sky. At night, the “solar-coaster” sinks and other forms of energy have to kick in to provide power.
Projections also show power demand will keep increasing over the next eight years. That means if utilities didn’t add more solar, wind or geothermal sources to the grid over the next eight years, their share of power coming from renewables would shrink from 20% currently to as low as 16%.
Translation: They’ll have to nearly double renewable energy production to hit the 33% target. For Edison, that means ramping up renewables from today’s 15,000-gigawatt hours to 28,000-gigawatt hours, Ulrich says.
“It’s an illusion of percentages that’s often lost,” he said.
On top of that, utilities are handcuffed to a degree in that individual solar power systems serving homes and businesses can’t be counted in the 33% equation, according to state regulators. The reason: rooftop panels and solar farms use completely different metering systems.
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External issues
Despite the fact that solar power is booming, some companies are retreating. First Solar Inc. said in a recent earnings call that it is cutting back on a number of its projects because a different kind of subsidy — one that rewards those who install the systems — is drying up for one of the world’s biggest consumers of solar energy, Germany.
First Solar decided to idle four lines in its German plant, hold off on building a facility at its home base in Mesa, Ariz., and stop work on a proposed plant in Vietnam. After the Feb. 28 disclosure, shares fell from the mid-$30 range to the mid-$20 range before recovering somewhat. First Solar shares have steadily declined from a peak of $175 reached in February 2011.
More at: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/solars-cruel-twist-for-california-power-firms-2012-03-21
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Le cas de l’Espagne ...
Spain Says $31 Billion Power-System Debt Burden Must Be Shared
Industry Minister must divide an annual deficit from the system of about 4 billion euros between power companies and consumers to prevent debt growing further.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-17/spain-says-31-billion-power-system-debt-burden-must-be-shared.html
Richard Paiement