China eyes German grid operator / German carmakers slow on batteries

The Munich Security Conference included climate change and emissions pollution as some of the biggest issues for international security in its 2018 report. “In the end, few experts doubt the long-term effects a changing climate will have on international security […]. While climate change will affect economic, security, and political systems all over the world, it will mainly act as a “threat multiplier” in those states with limited capacities to deal with it,” write the authors. They call for more action on exiting fossil fuel combustion, as it not only fuelled climate change, but air pollution is responsible for millions of deaths every year.

Find the full report for download here.

See the CLEW dossier The Energiewende's implications for international security for background.

The pollution of the City of Berlin’s main river Spree with sulphate stemming from coal mining activities in the neighbouring federal state of Brandenburg prompts reactions by local authorities, Claudius Prösser writes in the Tageszeitung (taz). The waterworks of the city Frankfurt an der Oder in Brandenburg plan to upgrade a water treatment plant to clear the region’s water from sulphate, which in higher concentrations can be harmful for sensitive consumers, such as the very young, very old or sick, Prösser says. The city wants to hold mining companies from the Lusatia region, such as Leag, accountable for the ten-million euro investment, saying it wants to “cite the damages caused by mining and see how lawmakers and those responsible will react”. Prösser says similar moves have not happened yet in the much larger German capital Berlin, “but who knows for how long – there’s no end of lignite mining activities in sight”.
In a separate article, Stefan Jacobs reports for the Tagesspiegel that a former open cast lignite mine in Brandenburg will soon be flooded and become Brandenburg’s largest body of water. The “Ostsee” will cover 19 square kilometres [Please note: corrects earlier figure of 19 million square kilometres] near the city of Cottbus, about 70 kilometres south of Berlin, and operator Leag estimates that filling the pit with water from the river Spree could take up to six years. Critics say the artificial lake will increase the risk for Berlin of higher sulphate concentrations in its drinking water supply.

Find the taz article in German here and the Tagesspiegel article in German here.

See the CLEW factsheet Coal in Germany for more information.

Wind power turbines are Germany’s most important renewable energy source and in 2017 produced more electricity than coal plants for the first time, Thorsten Preuschgas, CEO of Soventix, writes in a guest commentary in the pv magazine.  But it is “a false conclusion” that wind power is “the Energiewende’s panacea”, Preuschgas argues. Wind power production is very volatile and transmission grid operators often have to undertake costly interventions to throttle the feed-in, leading to the impression that renewable power sources are expensive per se, he says. An energy transition “under the aegis of wind power is bound to fail”, as power generated in the north cannot be transported south in quantities that would allow for shutting down nuclear plants there, Preuschgas writes. “Decentralised solar power could play a much more prominent role”, as they do not need large transmission lines. While wind power was “indispensable” for the Energiewende, its dominance “overshadows the advantages of other energy sources”.

Find the commentary in German here.

See the CLEW dossier Onshore wind power in Germany for background.