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> In absolute terms coal and gas make up approximately the same share of Germany's capacity as it did in 2010.

You're being very disingenuous here talking about capacity. What matters is how much fossil fuels actually are getting burned:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Germany_electricity_produ...

Electricity production from fossil fuels went down from 360.3 TWh in 2010 to 328.5 TWh in 2021, which is a reduction of almost 10%, while increasing electricity export from 15 TWh to 19.3 TWh.

https://ag-energiebilanzen.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/STR...



I agree that use is more important than installed capacity, but I don't think whether the fossil fuel share of electricity generation today is the same as in 2010 or 10% lower makes any difference to my point. Saying that 'coal/gas' fell when coal fell, and gas rose, is unhelpful. And renewables did not substitute for nuclear while gas did not, because both were used to get generation back to meet 100% of Germany's needs. Basic arithmetic tells us that if you need to reach a certain proportion of renewables in your energy mix, and you take away 5% of your capacity which is renewable, you have made it harder and not easier to reach your goal. And the less renewables, the more fossil fuel generation. Hence the rise of natural gas, and the drawn out coal phase-out.




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