Market Intelligence
May 11, 2016

Germany had so much renewable energy on Sunday that it had to pay people to use electricity

Germany had so much renewable energy on Sunday that it had to pay people to use electricity
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Germany had so much renewable energy on Sunday that it had to pay people to use electricity
Gary Cunningham
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Critics of renewable energy say that renewables will never provide 100% of our energy needs. Germany is coming close after 87% of consumed power was supplied by the country’s renewable energy sources.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Middelgrunden_wind_farm_2009-07-01_edit_filtered2.jpg

On Sunday, May 8, Germany hit a new high in renewable energy generation. Thanks to a sunny and windy day, at one point around 1pm the country’s solar, wind, hydro and biomass plants were supplying about 55 GW of the 63 GW being consumed, or 87%.

Power prices actually went negative for several hours, meaning commercial customers were being paid to consume electricity.

Last year the average renewable mix was 33%, reports Agora Energiewende, a German clean energy think tank. New wind power coming online should push that even higher.

Read the rest at qz.com

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Germany had so much renewable energy on Sunday that it had to pay people to use electricity

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