Germany Will Seek 100% of its Electricity from Renewables by 2050

Germany, which generates 16% of its power from renewable sources such as hydro-electric, wind and solar, now plans to get 100% of its electricity from renewables by 2050. It is an audacious plan, but German economists maintain it will actually improve the German economy and forestall the dislocations of the global warming that will otherwise occur.

Wind turbines alone are expected to generate 25 percent of the electricity in the European Union of 27 states by the year 2030.

By hooking a network of wind turbines into a common grid, some of the big problems with wind power, especially intermittency or the failure of the wind to blow all the time, can be overcome (with a networked grid, active wind farms can take up the slack for ones where the breeze has temporarily died down).

A plus: Germany’s offshore energy platforms don’t leak petroleum: