“Coal so far has been a winner of the Energiewende”

The Energiewende, Germany’s energy transition, has so far  seen too much political planning and not enough free market forces, making coal-fired power production one of the project’s “winners” besides renewable energy sources, gas lobbyist Timm Kehler says in an interview with Sächsische Zeitung. Kehler, head of lobby organisation Zukunft Erdgas e.V., says “the Energiewende is doable” but needs to let open competition decide which technologies will prevail. Failing to do so up until now is part of the reason that “Germany will miss its 2020 climate targets”, Kehler says. He argues that gas-fired power production will play a key role in reducing the economy’s carbon emissions, and that technologies such as power-to-gas from renewable sources for storage or cars running on natural gas could contribute substantially to reducing CO₂ emissions in a cost-efficient way.

See the CLEW dossier The energy transition and climate change and the CLEW factsheet Coal in Germany for more information.