ANOTHER #MERKELFAIL: Germany’s Energy Mistakes Are Hurting its Neighbors, Too.

It’s one thing for a country’s radical energy decisions to burden its own citizens, but it’s another altogether when those negative effects start to spill over into neighboring nations. That’s what’s happening in Germany right now, where headlong subsidization of renewable energy has not only produced some of the highest electricity bills in Europe, but has also threatened the stability of power grids in Poland and the Czech Republic. . . .

To recap, Germany has become the world leader in renewable energy through its energiewende, a plan that involved phasing out nuclear power (a curious decision for a purportedly environmentally conscious country, as nuclear is a zero-emissions energy source) while boosting wind and solar power by guaranteeing producers long-term, above-market rates. The costs of those cushy deals for renewable suppliers have been passed along to consumers, of course, in the form of green surcharges to monthly power bills. As a result, Germans are paying out the nose for their electricity, and their bills keep rising.

But wind and solar power are intermittent—they can only supply the grid when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing. On especially sunny or windy days, that can mean a sharp spike in supplies that doesn’t just strain Germany’s grid, but also those of its neighbors.

So now Poland and the Czech Republic are having to contend with blackouts, unstable grids, and at times an inability to sell their own power. Believe it or not, this is not what a successful energy policy looks like.

I believe it.