On Friday, May 25, and Saturday, May 26, of this year, Germany set a new world record for solar power generation. On Friday, a third of the country\u2019s energy was generated by solar energy and on Saturday, a full half of Germany was running on solar power.\u00a0 This is a remarkable achievement for Germany, and for the world. Since the tragic nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, Japan, Germany is shuttering all its nuclear power plants and is committed to replacing them with clean sources of energy. And it seems they are keeping their word. The Guardian reports:<\/a><\/p>\n German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity \u2013 equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity \u2013 through the midday hours of Friday and Saturday, the head of a renewable energy think tank has said.<\/p>\n Some critics say renewable energy is not reliable enough nor is there enough capacity to power major industrial nations. But the country’s leader, Angela Merkel has said Germany is eager to demonstrate that is possible.<\/p>\n The jump above the 20 GW level was due to increased capacity this year and bright sunshine nationwide. The 22 GW figure is up from about 14 GW a year ago. Germany added 7.5 GW of installed power generation capacity in 2012 and 1.8 GW more in the first quarter for a total of 26 GW capacity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n According to Reuters: Germany has the world\u2019s largest market for photovoltaic energy,<\/a> and accounts for nearly half of the world\u2019s solar capacity.<\/p>\n