Comments on: German power boss goes renewables route…at home too

By: Erik Kirschbaum

Erik Kirschbaum — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:30:35 +0000

Wow, Polderboy. I’m impressed with your math. I was promised 6,000 kilowatts a year by the PV sales people when it was installed in Dec 07…But you’re right. It’s going to be a bit less than that in this first year. It was about 2,500 through the first half of the year (partly due to some minor wiring/installation problems since repaired) so I’m hoping for about 5,000 to 5,500 for the full year. I do live just outside Berlin so I’m not going to get the same return as in Bavaria, which is about 600 km south of Berlin. But it’s still such a win-win that I’m planning to borrow as much as banks will lend me and put more PV systems on nearby school rooftops.

By: polderboy

polderboy — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:51:34 +0000

Bernotat was just partly correct in “correcting” journalist Kirschbaum who was talking about his (also wrongly stated) “6,000 kilowatts of photovoltaic power”.

In the article he mentions his installation to have a size of 7 kW(peak, that is: 7,000 Wattpeak, as flashed under Standard Test Conditions). Kirschbaum also mentions a yearly financial yield of 3.600 Euro, and a “fixed rate of 49 eurocents” (per kWh). Hence, he probably has coupled his installation to the net in 2007, in which a 20-year long fixed feed-in tariff (EEG obligation) of 49,21 eurocents/kWh was valid.

Making a yearly kWh production yield for Mr. Kirschbaum of 7,316 kWh, if his 3,600 Euro yearly income is correct. That would be 1,045 kWh per kWp per year, which is a yield that is achievable in Bavaria.

What Mr. Bernotat was wrong about that it would be (only) the OTHER electricity customers who would pay the feed-in bill of Mr. Kirschbaum. A wrong statement that apparently even Mr. Kirschbaum himself thinks to be (100%) true… What Mr. Bernotat forgot is that Mr. Kirschbaum is also making his “contribution” to the BEST feed-in system in the world (the German one, no one else): he also pays the “EEG Umlage” from his standard consumption meter, although it is only half a Eurocent per kWh that he consumes via this standard, separate meter (separate from the feed-in meter through which all production from the PV-installation is directly fed into the local grid). If he consumes relatively moderate (3,500 kWh per year is often mentioned), Mr. Kirschbaum (and Mr. Bernotat himself, although I doubt that the latter will have such a “moderate” consumption rate…), is paying 3,500 x 0.005 is approximately 17.50 Euro a year.

Still, a very good deal. Both for Mr. Kirschbaum, as for Mr. Bernotat. And for progression of PV on a global level…

By: Bill Larson

Bill Larson — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:39:16 +0000

All of these lovely ideals like cutting CO2 and going green just don’t do it for me. I think that if Wulf Bernotat is right that there will be a large reduction in fossil fuels use by 2050, it will happen because fossil fuels are no longer economical, not because alternative energy was subsidized and mandated by politicians in 2008. And the same effect will happen to CO2. If oil runs low, then CO2 will decline. All the politicans do is to skew our economies and make us poorer due to the reduced efficiencies. The best thing that politicians can do about the current situation is to simply balance their budgets, keep taxes and spending low and maybe fund scientific research on the subject with the results available to all.

By: ED

ED — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:39:26 +0000

The shift to ‘green’ energy is happening right now. However, if we completely abandon the fossil fuels, and without a good transition strategy, it would be a disaster for consumers first. Giant companies, like EON, will always find a way to make a profit.