Fact Check: DE 100% Solar

Calculations

# Let's calculate how much area Germany would need to be 100% solar powered

# === base assumptions from Elon's post ===

wattsPerSquareMeter = 1000 W / m^2
wattsPerSquareMile = (wattsPerSquareMeter to W / mile^2) to GW / mile^2

# factoring in efficiency and packing density
afterEfficiencyLosses = wattsPerSquareMile * 25 / 100
afterPackingLosses = afterEfficiencyLosses * 80 / 100

# usable daylight hours y(Germany has less sun than US average)
# average solar hours in Germany ≈ 3.2 h/day
averageWhPerDayPerMileSquared = afterPackingLosses * 3.2 h to GWh / mile^2
averageWhPerDayPerKmSquared = afterPackingLosses * 3.2 h to GWh / km^2

# === Germany electricity consumption ===
# Source: Statista / BMWK – about 518 TWh in 2023
germanyElectricityConsumption = 518e+9 kWh

# how many square miles needed for Germany
neededSquareMiles = germanyElectricityConsumption / averageWhPerDayPerMileSquared to mile^2

# Germany total land area
# https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.TOTL.K2?locations=DE
germanyArea = 357600 km^2
germanyAreaMi2 = germanyArea to mile^2

# percentage of land area required
percentageOfLandNeeded = neededSquareMiles / germanyAreaMi2 * 100 %

# === summary ===
averageWhPerDayPerKmSquared
neededSquareMiles
percentageOfLandNeeded