INTEGRATION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IN GERMANY

摘要

Some industrialized nations have begun to integrate renewable energy sources while the United States struggles to develop and implement a consistent national energy policy. One nation that has successfully started this transition is Germany. In addition to an aggressive move to implement renewable energy sources, Germany has allowed the market to develop a flexible plan that responds to some of the issues that have restricted the broad implementation of renewable energy sources in the past. The four strategies that the market has established as the cornerstones to fully integrate renewable energy into the German market are to: increase efficiency and conservation; fully deploy smart grid technology; deregulate the utility market; and replace fossil fuel transportation with electric vehicles. While the United States has started to deploy these in a fragmented approach, Germany has developed plan to implement these in concert. However, it is important to compare and contrast the differences between the two markets and identify the factors that could create barriers and facilitate the integration of renewable energy supply.