Germany's Show of Solar Power

Germany has long been a leader in renewable energy technology, especially solar power tech. It has now demonstrated that even large economies can depend on the sun and wind for their energy needs.

Germany demonstrated its prowess by producing 22 gigawatts of electricity -- equivalent to 20 nuclear power stations last weekend. A Reuters story said Europe's biggest economy met half of its power requirement on Saturday midday from solar power alone.

When a giant Tsunami battered Japan on March 11, 2011, it also caused one of the worst nuclear disasters in history at a power station in Fukushima. In the wake of that accident, Germany decided to shun nuclear power completely and focus on renewable energy, mainly solar and wind power. The country's achievement clearly shows it is fruitful to work with nature than undermining it. Ironically, policymakers in India are still trying to coax or coerce the people at Kudankulam and Jaitapur so that giant nuclear plants can be set up.

After the Fukushima accident, Prof A Damodaran, who teaches public policy at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, had written in Forbes India:

Tsunami victims like India have two lessons to learn from Japan’s experience: That there are limits to how much engineering can do to ward off natural disasters and that it pays to encourage decentralised approaches to managing coastal areas. The latter approach is inclusive, naturalistic and sustainable.

You can read our article here.

The thoughts and opinions shared here are of the author.