Those who criticize renewable energy may have to swallow their words after German wind turbines were found to have produced so much energy that utility companies started to pay consumers to take energy off the grid.

The event occurred on July 24th this year and was featured in a Bloomberg report which revealed this to be the 31st occasion on which energy companies have lost money due to the influx of solar PV and wind turbine generated electricity.

But this is just the start. More renewable energy including that from microgeneration (for example domestic roof-mounted solar PV) means that energy companies are going to find that their plants are operating at full capacity on fewer occasions than was the case previously. This is not just the case in Germany but also in many other countries where there has been a high interest in renewable energy and microgeneration, particularly the UK.

Of course, this was the whole idea all along and so utilities companies can hardly complain. If we are to effectively reduce our global carbon emissions, the future must be a renewable one. This is exactly the reason why countries all around the world have introduced Feed-in Tariffs (FITS) and so far it's working spectacularly well. In addition to the environmental benefits, solar PV installed with the aid of FITS can provide a nice little income which will not only help you with your domestic energy bills but might boost your pension plan as well. It is also worth bearing in mind that domestic fossil-fuel based energy is going to continue increasing in price, creating more uncertainty for conventional energy companies.