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Energy

Massive Offshore Windfarms to Power Green Germany

Juan Cole 04/30/2010

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Note to environmentalists: German utility corporations are building gigantic wind farms offshore that are expected to provide a quarter of Germany’s energy in coming decades. One plant, on an island, came online this week.

“Wind and solar energy, biomass and water power today cover more than 16 percent of German electricity requirements.”

  • Germany has 21,000 wind turbines
  • These turbines provide 6-7 percent of the country’s energy needs
  • When the wind is high, or domestic usage is low, the existing wind turbines can power all German households for a part of the day.
  • North Sea and Baltic Sea wind turbines are projected to produce 25 percent of Germany’s power needs by 2050, or 140 terawatt hours of electricity.
  • Even the conservatives in Germany are against building any new nuclear power plants and don’t see nuclear as significant to their future.
  • Germany’s energy policy was set by the Green Party when it was in coalition with the Social Democrats years ago, but has become so successful and popular that subsequent governments have stood by it.
  • Filed Under: Energy, Environment

    About the Author

    Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

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