In Germany they call it the “Energiewende,” meaning energy transition, and it doesn’t work.

Germans have been forced to come to grips with sober energy reality after binging on more than half a trillion Euros of so-called “alternative” energy, such as wind turbines and solar panels.  This dramatically increased the price of electricity and created a serious risk of blackouts.

Germany actually just announced plans to reactivate coal plants to provide reserve power and lower the risk of blackouts during the coming winter and years to come.

Bloomberg reports that:

Germany’s coal phase-out plans face a potential setback after the energy regulator predicted the country will need a lot more fossil-fuel power plants on standby to help keep the lights on in the coming years.

The need for so-called reserve capacity to cover shortfalls in wind and solar generation during the 2026/27 winter period is set to reach 9.2 gigawatts, double the amount put aside for the last heating season, the regulator said Tuesday. That’s even more than the 8.3 gigawatts of mainly coal-fired backup deployed in 2022, when Russia curbed pipelined natural gas supplies to Europe.

The solution the German government is pursuing is no solution at all — offsets!

Reuters reports that German  “coal-fired power plans will be reactivated and the government will make proposals by summer next year on how to offset increased carbon dioxide these plants will generate this winter.”

Germany will purchase some kind of offset certificates that will have no meaningful impact on the fact that German coal plants burn brown lignite, which is the dirtiest and least efficient variety of coal.  It is far inferior to the cleaner-burning hard black anthracite mined in America.

The German energy economy has fallen victim to conflicting Green ideologies.

As Germany invested a fortune in wind and solar which are unable to meet its energy needs, it simultaneously shut down clean, safe, functioning nuclear plants that were already paid for.

Germany provides a powerful energy lesson in what not to do.

Will America learn in time?

AUTHOR

Craig Rucker

Craig Rucker is a co-founder of CFACT and currently serves as its president. Widely heralded as a leader in the free market environmental, think tank community in Washington, D.C., Rucker is a frequent guest on radio talk shows, written extensively in numerous publications, and has appeared in such media outlets as Fox News, OANN, Washington Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Hill, among many others. Rucker is also the co-producer of the award-winning film “Climate Hustle,” which was the #1 box-office film in America during its one night showing in 2016, as well as the acclaimed “Climate Hustle 2” staring Hollywood actor Kevin Sorbo released in 2020. As an accredited observer to the United Nations, Rucker has also led CFACT delegations to some 30 major UN conferences, including those in Copenhagen, Istanbul, Kyoto, Bonn, Marrakesh, Rio de Janeiro, and Warsaw, to name a few.

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