When grid issues are mentioned, I often see comments that German renewables are sending power to France due to problems with the EDF fleet. Can you comment on that? Is there a widespread problem regardless of the energy mix?
It´s a complex issue on several levels. Nuclear power is the most contentious issue in European energy strategy. Countries like Germany and Austria are fiercely opposed (to some degree understandable, as they were most exposed, among western countries, to radioactive fallout after the Chernobyl accident), but France, Switzerland and others have nuclear as a key pillar for supply. So in the commentary, there´s always an element of spin, depending on which side you're on.
France will increase the role of nuclear power going forward, even though the corrosion problems are a setback in the short term.
My sense is that Germany is sort of piggybacking on France nuclear. It´s true that Germany was an average net exporter of energy in many years (but not e.g. in 2023), but in the make-or-break moments it has to rely on France.
And of course, pricing is a whole different issue. Generating a lot of excess energy from solar and wind for export when demand/ prices are low is not the best strategy commercially.
Great article! Just to add from a German perspective why our minister Robert Habeck (who by the way is a child book author in private life and therefore well qualified as minister for economics in Europe's largest economy) did not attend: He had to stay in cold Germany to fix the 2024 budget after 60 billion EUR had been declared as "illegal reallocation" by the German Federal Constitutional Court ("Bundesverfassungsgericht") in Nov 2023. The whole "transformation" that the green party wants to impose on us is based on fake accounting and it has blown up into their face after the court's decision.
While you did a great job describing heat pumps, I tend to disagree a little on your view, or say let me add another aspect: Our last house had a water heat pump and a rooftop solar system, which already works pretty well - expecially if you add a local battery system to bridge one or two days. I have some friends that have such a system installed on their house and they told me that they could reduce the power grid consumption by around 70 - 80%. So while heat pumps without local battery system increase grid load, a combined system might actually be a relief (at additional cost of course).
On the other hand I have heard of some new town houses that have been equipped with "ecofriendly" heat pumps and now they now can't be finished and rented out because the local grid operators simply can't provide enough power as new substations/transformers have to be installed and these are just not available. I bet the investors will love that.
Our "Energiewende" is based on green ideology, but in the end physics will prevail...
Whoops, just found your explanation of Robert Habeck's absence at COP 28 at the end of the article - seems I had scrolled over that before. Sorry for that. :-)
When grid issues are mentioned, I often see comments that German renewables are sending power to France due to problems with the EDF fleet. Can you comment on that? Is there a widespread problem regardless of the energy mix?
It´s a complex issue on several levels. Nuclear power is the most contentious issue in European energy strategy. Countries like Germany and Austria are fiercely opposed (to some degree understandable, as they were most exposed, among western countries, to radioactive fallout after the Chernobyl accident), but France, Switzerland and others have nuclear as a key pillar for supply. So in the commentary, there´s always an element of spin, depending on which side you're on.
France will increase the role of nuclear power going forward, even though the corrosion problems are a setback in the short term.
My sense is that Germany is sort of piggybacking on France nuclear. It´s true that Germany was an average net exporter of energy in many years (but not e.g. in 2023), but in the make-or-break moments it has to rely on France.
And of course, pricing is a whole different issue. Generating a lot of excess energy from solar and wind for export when demand/ prices are low is not the best strategy commercially.
How do you say “Coal fired heat pumps” in German :0)
haha, yeah right ;-)
The word "schadenfreude" springs to mind. Ganz lusting :)
Many thanks!
Great article! Just to add from a German perspective why our minister Robert Habeck (who by the way is a child book author in private life and therefore well qualified as minister for economics in Europe's largest economy) did not attend: He had to stay in cold Germany to fix the 2024 budget after 60 billion EUR had been declared as "illegal reallocation" by the German Federal Constitutional Court ("Bundesverfassungsgericht") in Nov 2023. The whole "transformation" that the green party wants to impose on us is based on fake accounting and it has blown up into their face after the court's decision.
While you did a great job describing heat pumps, I tend to disagree a little on your view, or say let me add another aspect: Our last house had a water heat pump and a rooftop solar system, which already works pretty well - expecially if you add a local battery system to bridge one or two days. I have some friends that have such a system installed on their house and they told me that they could reduce the power grid consumption by around 70 - 80%. So while heat pumps without local battery system increase grid load, a combined system might actually be a relief (at additional cost of course).
On the other hand I have heard of some new town houses that have been equipped with "ecofriendly" heat pumps and now they now can't be finished and rented out because the local grid operators simply can't provide enough power as new substations/transformers have to be installed and these are just not available. I bet the investors will love that.
Our "Energiewende" is based on green ideology, but in the end physics will prevail...
Just a view from a German engineer.
Whoops, just found your explanation of Robert Habeck's absence at COP 28 at the end of the article - seems I had scrolled over that before. Sorry for that. :-)
That´s a great point - you need an engineering degree to keep the system going ;-)