Germans receive free power due to surplus energy
During the weekend beginning the 28 October, so much energy was created through major windstorms, that Germany had enough to give it away for free.
The equivalent of 40 nuclear power plants worth of energy was generated during the storms, leading the costs to fall below zero.
The wind output of 39,409MW caused utilities to pay customers to take the power – the most since Christmas 2012.
In order to keep grid supply and demand in balance, many producers shut down their power stations.
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Germany has placed a lot of attention on the importance of renewable energy ever since it launched the Energiewende program in 2010, a strategy to move away from fossil fuels.
The country recently announced its plan to develop a giant offshore wind farm without subsidies.
Wind power provides approximately 10% of Europe’s electricity needs, with expectation for this number to grow as technologies drop in price.
According to Bloomberg, the cost of developing green energy is expected to drop by 71% over the next two decades.
