timing is everything in a d contest.
Wholesale electricity is the price to generate electricity while retail electricity is the price residents pay for electricity.
The benefit of looking at whole sale electricity prices shows which type of electricity generators are the cheapest. Which type of fuel (fossil fuel, nuclear or renewables) generators give the lowest whole sale prices?
The price of wholesale electricity is usually lower than the price of retail electricity. This is because to the wholesale price of electricity must be added various charges in order to purchase the electricity and deliver it to your home.
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In Marin County and many other counties in California residents can purchase Deep Green 100% renewable electricity.
Germany continued to be a net importer of electricity in August.
2023 5824 GWh 2022 - 276 2021 - 100 2020 - 795 2019 257 2018 - 4433 2017 - 3722 2016 - 4003 2015 - 3518
Total net electricity generation in Germany in 2023
https://energy-charts.info/charts/energy/chart.htm?l=en&c=DE&source=total&stacking=stacked_absolute&sum=0&partsum=0&interval=month&chartColumnSorting=default&legendItems=0100000000000000000&month=-1&year=2023
DB2
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A large German power company had to tear down a wind farm in order to expand an open pit brown coal mine. Subsidies for the wind farm expired, and the coal is more valuable.
According to Wikipedia, more than 30,000 people have been relocated to allow this mining operation to expand to its current size (48 square kilometers). Entire villages were razed to the ground. Such is life under the Energiewende program.
- Pete
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When the coal is gone, what next? Or is that “verboten sprechen?”.
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To the east they created lakes.
Meuro, the brown-black mine that once dominated the landscape, providing jobs to thousands of workers who toiled in clouds of lignite coal dust, has vanished. Only a floating excavator plucking sunken trees out of the water hints at the effort that’s gone into reshaping this corner of eastern Germany over the past decades…
But over the past two decades the man-made craters have been slowly re-sculpted to create 26 lakes connected by 13 canals and hundreds of miles of cycle track. Instead of coal-fired power plants, the horizons are now dotted with wind turbines and fields full of solar panels.
DB2
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In 2021 Germany was a big exporter of electricity, while France was a big importer of electricity because of their nuclear power plant problems.
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That was 2021.
In 2023, Germany has become a net importer, and France’s nuclear plants are exporting power to several other European neighbors.
- Pete
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Also in 2022 Germany was a big exporter, while France was big importer. Lets wait and see what the year end numbers show. Germany can come back strong and French nukes could have new problems.
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They are going to be hard pressed to be a net exporter of electricity. September is always a month of net exports, and already they’re at net 1.2 GWh imported for the month.
DB2
Germany is importing more electricity this year while producing less of it. Electricity production decreased from 282 TWh to 247 TWh (down 12%) compared to the first half of 2022 and was the lowest in many years.
DB2
Because of the war in Ukraine industrial power use remains so restricted that electricity generation was curtailed to its lowest first-half total since at least 2015.
Some energy efficiency improvements have also helped lower the total amount of electricity needed, especially among households and in office buildings sporting new devices such as heat pumps.
Germany’s day-ahead power prices averaged around 107 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) through the end of June, down from 197 euros over the same period in 2022, when power costs soared after Russia’s invasion.
Despite persistently lower prices, German total electricity generation was 247 terawatt hours (TWh) in the first half, 12.4% lower than the 282 TWh generated over the same period in 2022.
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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/europe-weak-gas-demand-signals-050000502.html
The record-high prices that were triggered by Russia’s squeeze on deliveries last year are now gone, but worsening economic conditions are hitting demand just as hard…
“It’s not just about prices anymore, but about the economic conditions,” said Erisa Pasko, a natural gas analyst at Energy Aspects. “We are still seeing a lot of weakness and a lot of uncertainty.”…
VCI, the country’s trade group for the chemicals industry, expects production, not including pharmaceuticals, to fall by 11% in 2023. Meanwhile, the European Chemical Industry Council anticipates a drop this year of 8% across the region, with no imminent recovery in demand expected.
Germany plays a critical role in the industry’s weakness. Europe’s powerhouse economy started the third quarter with the biggest monthly decline in factory orders since the pandemic in 2020.
DB2
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I guess you did not comprehend my last post. German industry is told to use less energy and they are getting paid to do so. Once the energy situation stabilizes in Germany, the Germans industry will soar again.
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I did. However, the Bloomberg article came to a different conclusion than you.
“It’s not just about prices anymore, but about the economic conditions,” said Erisa Pasko, a natural gas analyst at Energy Aspects.
Despite an 80% decline from last year’s gas prices — which made some production unprofitable — Germany’s energy-intensive industry is struggling even more than the broader manufacturing sector.
Meanwhile, the European Chemical Industry Council anticipates a drop this year of 8% across the region, with no imminent recovery in demand expected.
But that shock [natural gas] has been replaced by concerns about a deep-rooted recession, which has made German businesses hesitant to ramp up production again.
DB2
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Bob,
Think 1981 to 1983 as we turned to supply side econ. The focus was not on the retooling of industries. It was on building capital and financial institutions.
The industrials in Germany will respond later but the growth will be slow. The endless lying about tax cuts will draw in ejits who believe. The tax cuts will never happen for the bottom 95% of German households.
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Bloomberg article is looking at the next few years. I am looking at Germany in 7-10 years from now.
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You could be right in your projection, but I don’t think anyone can accurately predict a country’s economy a decade out (not even the Chinese).
DB2
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Germany continued to be short energy in September and was a net importer of electricity unlike previous years.
2023 4542 GWh 2022 - 1918 2021 - 1923 2020 - 1039 2019 - 1391 2018 - 4042 2017 - 4279 2016 - 5826 2015 - 5771
DB2
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