I’ve written about Germany’s remarkable transition to renewable energy a number of times.  I had the opportunity to hear Jochen Flasbarth, the President of the Federal Environment Agency of Germany, speak about this last April.  I followed up with the stunning news in June that Germany had, for one day, supplied half of its power from photovoltaic.  The Germans continue to set the pace for the rest of the world.  For now, here’s a short video from a non-profit, /e-politik.de/, to illustrate, very simply, some of the ins and outs of this remarkable transition.

By the way, it is distinctly possible that the need for storage is overstated in the video and elsewhere.  The recent study from a German engineering association referenced here says that not only will storage not be a critical component in the transition to renewable energy, but that the need for nuclear and coal power will ramp down very quickly as renewables gain share.

Another note on the video:  disregard their stated concern over bird strikes on wind turbines.  They are, for all intents and purposes, a non-issue. See table 2 on page 11 here –  – and also this article from Tree Hugger.