Re:Germans turn to balcony solar panels to save money
by maccard on Wednesday January 08, 2025 @10:44AM
(#42635375)
I live in the UK where we people point at the rest of Europe and say "why are our prices so high here when we have 50+% of our power coming from wind".
> The high consumer prices for electricity in Germany are a result of grid fees
Grid fees are a coverall for "making sure the whole thing runs", which in my mind covers "making sure there's gas (at least that's what we use in the UK) to cover the shortfall when it's not windy". The Gas stations need to be able to spin up to handle the demand, so it's an abritrage where you really want to maximise the amount of wind you use, while paying as little overhead to keep the gas ready to go. It's like being on-call, and having your on-call pay amortized into your regular pay.
> The high consumer prices for electricity in Germany are a result of grid fees
Grid fees are a coverall for "making sure the whole thing runs", which in my mind covers "making sure there's gas (at least that's what we use in the UK) to cover the shortfall when it's not windy". The Gas stations need to be able to spin up to handle the demand, so it's an abritrage where you really want to maximise the amount of wind you use, while paying as little overhead to keep the gas ready to go. It's like being on-call, and having your on-call pay amortized into your regular pay.