Germany followed a strange path to renewables. It pushed solar and wind faster than other countries in Europe, but after Fukushima decided to shut down its relatively clean nuclear plants and replace them with highly-polluting lignite-burning plants. Now it is finally getting ready to start shutting down the brown coal plants and mines.
However, Germany remains critically dependent on imports of natural gas from Russia. We also need to see a plan for electric vehicles of all kinds, including cars, trucks, buses, ferries, and regional aircraft, topics for another Renewable Day.
Germany to pay energy firms billions in coal phaseout plan
Chancellor Angela Merkel's government and Germany's four coal-producing states unveiled details of their plan to phase out coal by 2038 on Thursday.
The plans outline a timeline for decommissioning lignite-coal power plants in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg as well as easing the financial transition for the states and energy firms involved.
I'm going to make my usual prediction. If politics don't get in the way too much, it will all happen much faster than technologists and analysts can possibly imagine.
