German conservatives say coalition partner SPD must accept difficulties of renewables expansion

Germany’s ruling conservative CDU party says its coalition partner Social Democrats (SPD) have to acknowledge that the expansion of Germany’s renewable energy capacity will be more difficult than initially thought, Focus Online reports. So far, the SPD “has refused to accept that we have massive problems with our grid expansion,” said Joachim Pfeiffer, the CDU’s energy politician. Grid capacity must be commensurate with the added renewable power capacity, Pfeiffer said, adding that the SPD’s insistence on fulfilling climate targets did nothing to overcome this obstacle. He argued that storage solutions and more competition had to be emphasised more to make sure that new wind turbines do not have to be throttled down due to lacking grid capacity. 

Find the article in German here.

See the CLEW article Germany sets deadline for grid expansion plans and the CLEW dossier The energy transition and Germany’s power grid for more information.