How Germany Is on Track to Fully Transition to Renewables in Record Time

As one of the most relevant technological evolutions of our times, Germany’s transition from carbon to renewable energy is worth a closer look.

Germany has been accused of panicking and over-hastily abandoning nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in 2011, but the reality is that the anti-nuclear movement there has a very long history and deep roots.

The decision to close the last nuclear power plant this year and an unambiguous commitment to renewables is based on a no-nonsense cost-benefit analysis that shows how nuclear power has simply become a way of transferring huge amounts of public money to private companies, coupled with the fact that renewable energy is cheaper and more reliable than ever.

In stark contrast, neighboring France intends to build a new generation of nuclear power plants throughout the country — if it can attract the investment, which is far from certain — in the process generating a huge radioactive waste problem and a potential threat to its neighbors.

Germany has been accused of increasing coal consumption to make up the nuclear shortfall. This is nonsense: investment in solar and wind puts the country at the top of the list of countries based on the contribution of renewables to total supply: 46% in 2021, a consistent and growing contribution over time, and one that has resulted, contrary to myth, in an ever-increasing decline in coal consumption and a very significant reduction in its CO2 emissions. In 2013, coal accounted for 45% of electricity generation, by 2020 it had fallen to 24%.

Now, in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany has speeded up the move away from fossil fuels to renewables from the original end date of 2038, to 2035, and that may well be brought forward to 2030, which would make it the first major world economy to achieve such a transition. The Kremlin’s actions have led more and more countries to realize that the best way to defeat Putin and other autocrats in oil-producing nations is by investing in renewables, and that eliminating European dependence on Russian oil and gas can be done much more quickly than previously assumed.

To do so will require major changes. Germany plans to dedicate 2% of its territory to wind farms, which means that Germans will have to learn to live with wind turbines and stop protesting when they are located in their areas. In addition, the country is investing heavily in offshore wind and solar farms, and is a leader in household panel and battery installations, which shatters another myth: it is perfectly feasible to supply a country with solar, wind and batteries while keeping the price of electricity at competitive levels; varying sunshine or wind levels need not mean supply problems.

The facts cannot be denied: whatever critics say about the nuclear phase-out, or that Germany has been burning coal non-stop and has to import energy from other countries, the reality is that it is on track to be the world’s first economy to move away from fossil fuels, is consuming less and less coal, consistently reducing its emissions, and is a net exporter of electricity. In short, a model for energy transition. Expensive, sure, but far cheaper than simply doing nothing.

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This post was previously published on Medium.

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