Letters to the Editor
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Reading the same stuff
The subsidies paper you linked to say, in part:
"Even though renewable energy has grown rapidly in Germany, its contribution to total electricity consumption remains relatively small. As Figure 1 shows, domestic renewable energy production is only a fraction of total electricity demand. The substantial growth in renewable energy production has not kept pace with a six percent increase in Germany’s total electricity consumption since its low point in 1993. Thus, the substantial increases in renewable energy use have not reduced conventional electricity demand. ... In particular, the decline in support for solar photovoltaics and biomass R&D provides a counterpoint to the host of other policy measures adopted to spur the adoption of these technologies."
So solar subsidies have been cut, not increased. And yet Germany has, according the paper, the world's biggest market for photovoltaic cells. A happy occurrence all way round.
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decline in r&d, increase in deployment subsidies
that's partly because of the shift in political priorities, but also because of an increase in emphasis on deployment rather than research and development, which other analysts believe is a bad long term bet...
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Something that has always bothered me.
Andrew- care to take a crack at why security costs are never included in "grid parity" calculations? Aren't they subsidies too? I've always wondered what would happen if we all got a huge income tax reduction, and instead you had to pay your share of the Pentagon budget at the pump.
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Who offshores to Germany?
"Who offshores to Germany?" Andrew asks.
Had a look at global capital flows lately? Most Americans, Europeans, and Asians who invest abroad do so in relatively high-wage markets -- because that's where the productivity is. Sure, wages are low in Haiti, but try fabricating semiconductors there.
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A little hypocrisy from the Germans
While Germany is a hotbed of wind and solar and has completely turned its back on nuclear, it's still one of France's biggest electricity customers. France's 4th largest export is electricity, and 80% of it comes from their nuclear reactors. Outta sight, outta mind...
Being east and northeast of France, i.e. downwind, Germany also benefits from the fact that France has the cleanest air in the industrialized world. Again, because of their nuclear/hydro generation system. Lucky Germans.