For a few hours around lunchtime on a bright and windy day last month, Germany paid people to use electricity. The country’s investment in renewable energy has paid off so handsomely that green power sources produced almost enough electricity to meet national demand. Because the rest of the energy infra¬structure — nuclear, coal and gas stations — was online too, the temporary surplus pushed prices on Germany’s spot market on 8 May into the negative. For a brief time, the more electricity that commercial customers used, the more money they made.
Nature 8th June 2016 read more »