Germany is Cutting Back on Renewable Subsidies to Stabilize its Electric Grid

On Sunday, May 8, renewable energy supplied 87 percent of Germany’s electricity. Around 1 pm on that day, the country’s solar, wind, hydroelectric and biomass plants supplied about 55 gigawatts of the 63 gigawatts needed to meet demand. As a result, power prices went negative for several hours, meaning commercial customers were being paid to consume electricity.¹. The system’s natural gas plants were taken off line, but its coal and nuclear plants could not be quickly shut down and had to pay to sell power into the grid for several hours. That meant industrial customers such as refineries and manufacturers earned money by consuming electricity.