GERMANY GENERATES 90% OF ITS POWER FROM RENEWABLES

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On Sunday, for a brief, shining moment, renewable power output in Germany reached 90 percent of the country’s total electricity demand.

That’s a big deal. On May 8th, at 11 a.m. local time, the total output of German solar, wind, hydropower, and biomass reached 55 gigawatts (GW), just short of the 58 GW consumed by every light bulb, washing machine, water heater and personal computer humming away on Sunday morning. See the graph below, courtesy Agora Energiewende, a German clean energy think tank. (It’s important to note that most likely, not all of that 55 GW could be used at the time it was generated due to system and grid limitations, but it’s still noteworthy that this quantity of power was produced.)

Here are a few takeaways from this milestone:

Germany is the fourth-largest economy on the planet. Germany’s $3.7 trillion GDP beats the economic output of any other country in Europe or, for that matter, any U.S. state. Sunday’s spike in renewable output shows that wind and solar can keep pace with the demands of an economic powerhouse. What’s more, the growth of clean energy has tracked the growth of Germany’s economy.

This Country Generated So Much Renewable Energy It Paid People to Use It

On May 8—a particularly sunny and windy day—Germany’s renewable energy mix of solar, wind,hydropower and biomass generated so much power that it met 88 percent of the country’s total electricity demand, or 55 GW out of 63 GW being consumed.

This means, as Quartz reported, “power prices actually went negative for several hours, meaning commercial customers were being paid to consume electricity.”

“We have a greater share of renewable energy every year,” said Christoph Podewils of Agora Energiewende, a German clean energy think tank.

“The power system adapted to this quite nicely. This day shows again that a system with large amounts of renewable energy works fine.”

According to Quartz, industrial customers such as refineries and foundries were able to earn money by consuming electricity because nuclear and coal plants were unable to shut down production during the spike and had to continue selling power to the grid.