Germany has been held up by renewable energy zealots as the shining example of how to run on sunshine and breezes. However, like its doppelgänger down under, South Australia, eventually and inevitably, reality bites.

German householders and businesses (just like those in South Australia) are being belted by rocketing power prices and – every time the sun goes down or the wind stops blowing – grid managers have the pull-out all stops to prevent the grid from collapsing.

In South Australia, the first spell of hot weather is barely a month away, which will bring with it inevitable mass load-shedding and, if the grid manager loses control of the situation, yet another total ‘system black’.

In Germany too, there’s a growing sense of panic about what happens next.

In this NoTricksZone piece a top engineering professor, Dr Ing Hans-Günter Appel, who is clearly apprehensive about Germany’s energy future, points out…