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Total world energy consumption is about 16 Terawatts. The article reports Germany's solar production peaked at 22 Gigawatts. That's over 0.1% of humanity's use, from a single country covering a land area smaller than California. We have just begun to exploit solar PV power generation.


> [...] from a single country covering a land area smaller than California.

To be more precise: From a single, cloudy and relatively cold country. California isn't really the right comparison.


Apparently it was very sunny that day, and cool temps actually help PV efficiency IIRC.


Yes but we are still a month away from the longest day, so the chances are that this record will be broken again, soon.


To be even more precise: during a period of only a few hours during an extremely sunny day.




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