This week, Germany got wonderful sunny weather all over the place, which made me hopeful that a new solar power record might be around the corner. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen on Monday, but 21.7 GW of peak output and 184 GWh aren’t bad either! That’s Giga with a G, as in 184 million kWhs.

To illustrate the meaning of having such summer days, I created the little infographic below. Keep in mind that, with solar installations still soaring in Germany, such power outputs are destined to become the norm sooner than later.

The last piece of information on that graphic is rather important, in my opinion, because EVs are already the perfect commuter cars, and when are most commuter cars usually parked? Between 8 AM and 6 PM, when their owners are parked behind a desk. And when do people usually watch TV? After 8 PM, when their electric commuter cars are plugged in at home.

Since increasing solar capacity by 2-10 times is not really a problem, considering the untapped roof potential, and the idea of millions of EVs by 2030 doesn’t really sound abstract… where’s the storage problem again?

Thomas (36 Posts)

I am a close observer of the renewable energy revolution in my home country Germany and around the world. As a full-blooded enthusiast, I spend a lot of my spare time reading about the technological, political, social and cultural developments that drive the renewable energy revolution and their benefits to society.   I studied media & computer science at university and work as a freelance graphic / interface designer. I love visualizing complex information, data, & the relationships that connect them to our world.