Articles by

Karl-friedrich Lenz

Worst Possible Phaseout Strategy

By

Karl-friedrich Lenz

I still think that global warming is easily solved once the fossil fuel owners understand how to profit from the phaseout.

EU General Court Approves Commission Power Grab

By

Karl-friedrich Lenz

For example, Germany could keep up the feed-in tariffs and completely drop the surcharge system, leaving it to the market to work that part out. The misguided move to an auction system seems to indicate that the German government wants more market-based rules. Fine. Get more market-based rules by abolishing the surcharge system.

Phaseout Profit Theory Is an Exit Strategy

By

Karl-friedrich Lenz

As the share of renewable grows, demand for fossil fuel goes down. All things equal, that would mean lower prices for fossil fuel.

The Miserable Failure of the German 2014 Renewable Energy Law Reform

By

Karl-friedrich Lenz

The good thing about this development is that it clearly shows what happens when you phase out feed-in tariffs and use an auction model instead. A massive breakdown of the market, making the climate crisis worse.

0.07 Percent of Germany’s Area Used For Solar

By

Karl-friedrich Lenz

Most of that are conversion areas (Konversionsflächen), which means areas formerly used for public purposes, most of them former military installations. At the end of 2014, 61% of projects were installed on this kind of areas. Another 28% were former farm land, and the remaining 11% are areas adjacent to roads.

The Resounding Success of German Solar Auctions–Not

By

Karl-friedrich Lenz

It is also clear that the auction model is further away from a market model than a feed-in tariff. Under a feed-in tariff, the question of how much new capacity is installed is left to decision by market forces.

Congratulations to the German Government on Throttling Renewable Energy Growth

By

Karl-friedrich Lenz

The 2014 reform of the Act on Renewable Energy (formerly the Act on Priority for Renewable Energy) has reduced investment in Germany to a measly $10.6 billion, down 42% from 2014.

What’s the Business Model for Owning Car Batteries?

By

Karl-friedrich Lenz

Note also that neither of these models requires that the car manufacturer is a party to the deal. If Tesla does not want to sell their cars without batteries, that does not keep a Tesla owner from selling his battery to the utility, or to someone else leasing it right back to them.

All-Electric America

By

Karl-friedrich Lenz

Of course, if it turns out that this would lose money for the utility under present market conditions, one could think about establishing a feed-in tariff for electricity from car battery storage as an alternative to get this done quickly.

Solar Auctions in Japan–a Bad Idea?

By

Karl-friedrich Lenz

Auctions will increase costs, not reduce them.

Flaw In Japanese Feed-in Tariff

By

Karl-friedrich Lenz

The way to fix this is simple. Just pay the feed-in tariff depending on the time of start of generation.

Fossil Fuel Feed-In Tariffs

By

Karl-friedrich Lenz

It would work exactly like the successful solar tariff, with one small change. There would be a cap on the fossil fuel electricity bought under the system. That cap would be calculated from the already existing goals for renewable. Look at the renewable goal, subtract that from 100 percent, and you get the cap for fossil fuel under the feed-in tariff.