Well, I only got detailed German reports on Germany's situation, see below please. Also I'm only diving into this not-so-important thread because you asked so politely:
The main problem, put in a nutshell in my basic English words, is simple however, except for modern politicians :
a) Solar energy in West Europe only works when the sun shines nicely, and wind energy only works here when the wind blows nicely, i.e. not too little sun shine, and not too little wind please, but also not too much wind please, otherwise the monster rotors must be halted...
There's no efficient way yet to store unneeded power in batteries, so both energy sources are neither constant nor reliable in Germany, where large parts of the country have got typical English weather.
b) Add to this the fact that 1) the solar cells are so expensive to produce, that they can only be installed with the massive help of taxes, i.e. with classical socialist money redistribution. And 2) the big wind rotors die in a few years due to material exhaustion, which makes wind farms the joke of the century. The English got nice long time reports on this hushed up fact.
(Because Germany is totally bankrupt, the formerly invented tax help for the "energy change" is cut massively now, and so the German industry which focused on producing alternative energy supplies during the "energy change"'s hype, dies now and dies rapidly. Well, the whole "energy change" is one ideological flop, as is anything invented by today's godless politicians.)
c) An highly industrialised country like Germany needs a constant and reliable power supply for industry and people.
Last year (Fukushima), the German politicians started the so called "energy change" and since then bet extremely on solar and wind energy. Already this winter the Germans faced the first results:
nearly-blackouts, usually in the most industrialised parts like Bavaria, see below. So the poor Germans had to buy emergeny energy from their neighbours, for example from my beloved Austria (hydro-electric power), from France (nuclear power, oh oh!), etc.
The sentence in the report below from 9 May 2012:
"Companies and consumers will have to reorient [their energy consumption] in the coming years" just means that the industry would have to work only when the sun shines nicely, and when the wind blows nicely... which is another word for systematical destruction of the industry.
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Some recent German reports from an established economical newspaper, partly Google-translated :
9 May 2012http://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/energie/bundesnetzagentur-das-bittere-fazit-aus-einem-jahr-energiewende/6611442.htmlThe bitter conclusion of one year of "energy change"
The German Federal Power-supply Agency has published an 100-page report on the electricity supply in Germany last winter, the first winter after the energy change.
The bottom line: The shutdown of eight nuclear power stations and the many new wind and solar electricity in Germany have changed the energy supply situation dramatically. Companies and consumers will have to reorient themselves in the coming years. The 14 most important experiences.
(more) 15 May 2012http://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/mittelstand/windkraft-und-solarenergie-zukunftstechnik-wird-zur-pleitebranche/6344790.html"Future energy" industry goes bankrupt
Depreciation, losses, bankruptcy - electricity from renewable energy sources is becoming a drop business for mid-sized and large companies.
(more) 26 May 2012http://www.wiwo.de/politik/deutschland/energiewende-in-bayern-droht-der-blackout/6668186.htmlImminent blackout due to "energy change" in Bavaria
In no other county is the power supply so critical as in Bavaria. Experts warn of a energy blackout.
(more)