Oh !
To be in
Fatherland !
Germans call their country, “ Fatherland
“
Germans are also known for their very high standard of Discipline / Efficiency /
Productivity – and , in recent past , have bailed out , some “ about to
go bankrupt “ European countries
But it is also a very cold country and I would avoid going there ( -
fortunately , I have no reason to go there ! )
But the reason behind the title of this blog , is
the following news :
Now, Germans get paid to use power
·
The Times of India (Mumbai edition)
·
28 Dec 2017
·
Germany has spent $200 billion over the past two decades to promote cleaner
sources of electricity.
That
enormous investment is now having an unexpected impact — consumers are now actually paid
to use power on occasion, as was the case over the weekend.
Power prices
plunged below zero for much of Sunday and the early
hours of Christmas Day on the EPEX Spot, a large European power trading
exchange, the result of low demand, unseasonably warm weather and strong
breezes that provided an abundance of wind power on the grid.
Such “negative prices” are not
the norm in Germany, but they are far from rare, thanks to the country’s effort
to encourage investment in greener forms of power generation.
Prices for electricity
in Germany have dipped below zero — meaning
customers are being paid to consume power — more than 100 times this year alone, according to EPEX Spot.
What causes negative prices ?
Basically,
when the supply of power outstrips demand for it.
The
energy supplies that Germany depends on, are less predict- able than they used
to be. Wind power, in particular, is highly dependent on changes in weather
patterns.
Giant spinning turbines produce, on average,
about 12% of Germany’s power, but on windy days, they can generate several
times that amount.
At the same time, other mainstays of the
electricity supply, especially some coal and nuclear power plants, are unable to dial back quickly
enough, leading to negative prices on electricity trading markets.
I believe this EXTREMELY LOW price of electricity
is , one more reason ( apart from discipline / efficiency / productivity ,
cited above ) , why Germany is a very prosperous country
What do this “ Near
ZERO “ electricity prices mean to the German Economy ?
·
Costs of manufacture of “ products ” and delivery of “ services “ , go down
·
Industrial robots consume a lot of
electricity. These become cheaper
to operate
·
Cheaper “ operating
cost “ of robots encourage companies to replace “ high wage “ workers with more robots –
further reducing manufacturing costs
·
Rapidly increasing demand for
robots leads to more manufacture of robots , which generates jobs for more skilled workers
·
Ave annual work-hours in
Germany has dropped from 1371
( 2014 ) to 1363 (
2016 )
·
“ Electricity
cost as a percentage of total manufacturing cost “ for Steel , comes to
around 30 %. This percentage
is much higher for Aluminum / Copper etc
What happens
if this Electricity cost drops drastically ?
Raw material
costs drop
And when Raw
Material Costs drop, costs of ALL products drop !
When Product Costs drop , it
becomes a LOW
COST ECONOMY – enabling greater exports !
Even in some distant future , can we
expect such a scenario in India ?
It is possible if our Policy Makers ,
implement :
FROM GREED TO GREAT ? [ 01 Oct
2015 ]
==============================================
Unlimited Power : and round theclock ? [ 29 July 2016
]
=============================================
Sun : Our Soul ( A New SOS ) [ 02 Jan
2017 ]
=============================================
Solar Power at Rs 1 per Kwh ? [ 29 Jan
2017 ]
===============================================
How Cheap can it get ? [ 14 March
2017 ]
===============================================
INDIA : the NEW LAND OF THERISING SUN ? [ 01 April 2017
]
===============================================
Green Buildings ? Put Greed to
Work ! [ 05 June 2017
]
===============================================
To figure out how far we are from Electricity
Price of Re
1 / kwh , read :
===============================================
================================================
29 Dec 2017
www.hemenparekh.in /
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