InterSolar Europe In Munich Abuzz With German Government Announcing Nuclear Exit By 2022

The international renewable energy and general electricity generation community that gathered at Intersolar Europe from June 8 to 10 was abuzz digesting the news of the German parliament releasing its plan to have the country's electricity generation fully withdraw from nuclear energy by 2022. I attended the Intersolar Europe and observed optimism among solar industry participants that Germany's nuclear exit will bring new opportunities in the German solar market. That country's solar market had begun to lag in recent times due to solar feed-in-tariffs being curtailed. However, as Germany today only relies on roughly twenty percent nuclear power, the German government's announcement was primarily seen as producing significant new opportunities for development of substitute base load capacity, which is thought will have to come from utility scale offshore wind parks, as well as natural gas fired plants.