Dieselgeneratoren boomen (bald auch bei uns)
Einer meiner Lieblingsautoren der FINANCIAL TIMES (FT) bringt es wieder mal auf den Punkt: Die Energiepolitik führt zum Boom der Dieselgeneratoren. Was sonst nur in “Lagos, Bagdad oder Kabul” zu hören ist, demnächst auch in unseren Städten und Dörfern. In den USA boomt der Markt für Dieselgeneratoren schon jetzt:
- “(…)diesel generators (…) are spreading across America, growing louder and dirtier with the summer heat. This was supposed to be the year of the green recovery, with union-scale workers pulling the wraps off wind turbines, solar panels and massive batteries, as environmentally conscious fund managers in pretentious plastic hats looked on in satisfaction.” – bto: Alle schauen auf die neuen grünen Technologien, übersehen aber, dass sie überwiegend noch nicht ausgegoren sind.
- “(…) as alternative energy shares have sputtered and drifted down since the beginning of this year, grimy old diesel genset manufacturers are coining it. The largest pure play diesel genset maker, Generac Holdings Inc of Wisconsin, has seen its shares rise more than 250 per cent over the past 12 months and nearly eight times over the past two years. It is now trading at price equivalent to 58 times its earnings over the past 12 months, a rather aggressive valuation. That is even with earnings per share up by 36 per cent in 2020 and a revenue increase of 12.7 per cent.” – bto: Gut, nachlaufen muss man jetzt nicht, aber man könnte ja mal einsteigen, wenn es günstiger wird.
- “Some of this growth comes from the demand for back-up generators for data centres, a fast-growing application in recent years. But sadly, much of the increase in the diesel business has been created by the declining reliability of US electricity grids, particularly in storm-wracked coastal areas, inland tornado alleys and, recently, renewable energy-intensive California and Texas.” – bto: Wir ja wissen, dass Wind und Sonne unzuverlässig sind.
- “Both states have moved quickly to install tax-advantaged wind and solar, but slowly to ensure the flexibility and resilience required to support intermittent renewables. Texans seemed to think their fossil-fired power would make up for any fluctuations in wind power, but were caught short in February when the natural gas pipelines and generators froze up.” – bto: Immerhin haben sie fossile Energie noch! Bei uns wird das ja auch ausgeschaltet.
- “Californians have taken for granted that their own hydro supplies, as well as those from their northern neighbours, could offset the huge swings in the state’s solar and wind output. Unfortunately, drought conditions have spread across the entire west, and water power, even carefully rationed, may not be able to prevent severe blackouts this summer.” – bto: Wir denken auch, dass unsere Nachbarn gerne selbst im Dunkeln sitzen, um uns zu helfen …
- “Americans dependent on air conditioning and internet access are unwilling to accept power outages. So they will spend $15,000 to $20,000 to buy a home back-up diesel system, or $75,000 for one of the new gasoline-powered Ford F-150 pick-up trucks with built-in 7.5kW generators.” – bto: die Amerikaner …
- “In too many cases, renewable energy is treated as a tax gimmick and political box-ticking exercise. Solar and wind projects are photo-op ready and easily monetised. Officials can fob off concerns about the stability and sustainability of the grid by assuming neighbouring regions will supply any necessary power imports on demand.” – bto: eine gerade in Deutschland sehr populäre Haltung! Dabei steigen fast alle europäischen Staaten zeitgleich aus der traditionellen Energieerzeugung aus.
- “Europe and Britain, so far, have been spared a forced dash for diesel. The assumption has been that the continent’s tight interconnections will allow its grids to offset wind and solar generation variability with dispatchable imported power from (. . .) somewhere. But nuclear and coal retirements in Germany over the next couple of years will turn it into a consistent power importer. Britain is also retiring nuclear stations ahead of schedule. France is partly denuclearising. Without grid stability and resilience, the green transformation will disappear in a cloud of diesel smoke.” – bto: In früheren Beiträgen habe ich darauf hingewiesen, dass es richtig ist, sich auf das Szenario von Stromausfällen vorzubereiten.