| Germany Solar Covers Almost 50% of Country | 1 June 12 |
On Saturday May 26, 2012, Germany used its solar power sources to produce 22 gigawatts of electricity, setting a new world record. It would take 20 nuclear power plants running at full power to produce as much electricity. This was equal to nearly fifty percent of the country's power use during peak hours Friday and through Saturday.Since the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in Japan, Germany has closed eight nuclear power plants and announced it would be shutting its remaining nine nuclear power plants down by 2022. Germany has long been a leader in the solar power for energy production but really stepped up its efforts to transition to renewables after the Fukushima disaster. "This shows Germany is capable of meeting a large share of its electricity needs with solar power," said Norbert Allnoch, director of the Institute of the Renewable Energy Industry (IWR) in Muenster. "It also shows Germany can do with fewer coal-burning power plants, gas-burning plants and nuclear plants." View May 28, 2012 The Globe and Mail articleView May 28, 2012 The Guardian article View May 31, 2012 Inhabitat article View June 1, 2012 The Huffington Post article View June 7, 2012 The Mark News article |
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