Some €48.89 was the price of electricity for Germany on the Leipzig exchange on Monday (19 September, 2022). Denmark, which is also heavily supplied with wind power, paid between €52 and €53. In the Netherlands, the price soared to €80, in Belgium €118, and Poland reached up to €141. The most expensive countries were Switzerland, with €257; Austria, with €218; and France, a nuclear power country, with €169.
These figures show that the expansion of renewable energy, which actually drove up electricity bills for years, is now helping to curb electricity prices. Renewable energy thus shows it is not a luxury and not just something for good times. It is indispensable as a base load and has a dampening effect on the electricity price. Considering that prices found on the stock exchange are always only a snapshot, they do present a good indication for electricity price levels. Electricity purchased at these prices lowers the overall price.
Germany could be a real land of milk and honey for electricity consumers if the question of storage can be solved. Whether pumped storage, batteries, or in the form of hydrogen: once green electricity can be stored and made available at any time and almost indefinitely, it will bring a new boom to the German economy.
Today we can already observe that more and more energy-intensive companies are setting up locations in Schleswig-Holstein, which is rich in wind and largely supplied with renewable energy. This market pull will increase in the future. If Germany is able to match the growing demand and expand its renewable energy sources also in other regions, especially the south, even companies from abroad will make their choice of location according to energy availability, and thus in Germany.
Cheap electricity at any time of day or night, made possible by the expansion of renewable energy generation and storage, will ensure that a truly flourishing landscape can unfold in Germany.
