I don't think it's one or the other. I'd love to see wind, solar, geo-thermal, etc. take off.
Unfortunately, Wind and Solar were pushed not on the basis of being a viable alternative to alternative fuels, or on the basis of being practical in any sense.
Instead of being market driven they were pushed under a ideological pretense. THE Politicized narrative of AGW told us we had to invest mass amounts of money into sub-standard, wasteful and inefficient technologies, or else.
Germany dove head first into Alternative energy to the point of absurdity. They shut down their nuke plants, and invested massive amounts of money into becoming the first Country that was 100 % powered through " renewable energies ".
They invested untold amounts of money into building great Wind farms and Solar Power plants that were heralded as unprecedented technological accomplishments. Those responsible for Germany's green energy revolution should be held criminally accountable for their malfeasance.
The Politicians in Germany, misguided by a ideological construct committed the Citizens of Germany to this " green revolution " nightmare, and now German citizens pay 300 % MORE for their electricity than the average American does.
The only way Solar and Wind can be " viable ", the only way they can compete with fossil fuel technology, or nuclear technology is if they're heavily subsidized by the Tax payer.
German citizens are currently paying 20 Billion dollars for electricity with a 3 Billion dollar market price. Germany now burns MORE Coal than they did before they shut down their Nuke plants due to the inherent lags of power that come with wind and solar and they're currently building MORE Coal fired plants.
Their air is dirtier than it was prior to shutting down their nuke plants.
Germany has huge wind-farms off the coast that are not tied into main power grid because they simply cannot afford to complete the installation and they CANT tax the already over burdened German citizen anymore.
Even the German Government has finally acknowledged that their " Green revolution " was a total failure.
Germany's Green Energy Disaster: A Cautionary Tale For World Leaders - Forbes
GERMANY: Renewable Energy Policy “Complete Failure”… Bring On The Dirty Coal Monsters : SRSrocco Report
" In a stunning admission, the German Government recently announced that its transition to Renewable Energy was, “On the Verge of Failure.” This blunt statement was released by Germany’s Economic Minister and Vice Chancellor to Angela Merkel, Sigmar Gabriel at an event at SMA Solar… Germany’s leading manufacturer of Solar technology. "