| Page 2 of 2 < |
Cloudy Germany a Powerhouse in Solar Energy
Hans-Joerg Koch manages the Espenhain plant and its 33,500 solar panels.
(By Craig Whitlock -- The Washington Post)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
One is that other forms of non-fossil fuel energy are falling out of favor. The government has decided to phase out all nuclear power plants by 2020. And while Germany is also the world leader in wind power, a popular backlash is building against the towering wind turbines that have proliferated in farmers' fields across the country and are criticized as eyesores.
In Espenhain, local officials have warm words for their solar plant, owned by the Berlin-based company Geosol. The facility was constructed on land that had served as a dumping ground for millions of tons of coal dust produced by nearby mines since the 1930s. The property had been rendered unusable for agriculture or other purposes.
Two decades ago, the region was part of communist East Germany and known for that coal industry, which employed 8,000 people. After the reunification of Germany in 1990, most of those jobs quickly disappeared, but this part of the state of Saxony continued to suffer from air and water pollution from the mines.
"This region was known as the dirtiest in all of Europe," said Juergen Frisch, mayor of Espenhain. "The solar plant came at a very good time for Espenhain. It's helped to change our image."
Unlike the coal mines, the solar plant makes almost no noise, save for the low thrum of a few outdoor air-conditioning units that cool the electrical transformers. The plant, with 33,500 solar panels, sits on a 37-acre site in a field off a rural road and requires scarcely any maintenance.
On a tour of the property, Koch, the manager, acknowledged that eastern Germany is not the ideal site for collecting the sun's rays.
Contrary to popular expectations, however, the solar panels work fine on drizzly days, he said, although they are able to generate only a quarter to half the usual output of electricity. "We are still producing at the moment, even when we have overcast or rainy conditions," he said cheerfully.
Special correspondent Shannon Smiley in Berlin contributed to this report.
