Germany makes a nuclear move in the wrong direction

Germany's chancellor Merkel, being hounded by aggressive Greens on nuclear power, has decided to get Germany out of the nuclear-power-generating club by 2022. Even if that's a demonstrably bad idea:

According to a report in Monday's Süddeutsche Zeitung, four firms which operate Germany's network of high-voltage power cables and pylons - 50Hertz, Tennet, EnBW Transportnetze and Amprion – believe Germany cannot currently cope without nuclear power. The companies say that the grid is already "largely exhausted" during winter months when solar power is at a minimum and when wind cannot be relied on to keep turbines in motion.

The firms warned in a statement that calm winter days with no wind could result in "large-scale supply disruptions", particularly in Germany's affluent and industry-heavy south, which guzzles much of the country's electricity. "A safe supply to customers in these cases could be severely compromised," they said.

and also

"A quick and rash exit from German nuclear power would raise costs for the whole economy, make us miss climate goals**, raise our reliance on fossil fuels and make our power supply less secure, meaning more power imports and problems with network stability," said president Ralf Gueldner. "It would also spark intense debate in the European Union," he added.

** which I thought Greens were concerned about!

Well, if Germany wants to be the test-case for an industrialized Western nation going it alone on renewables, then more power to them. I guess that would be obvious, wouldn't it?