Energy policy after Chernobyl / One billion euros for e-cars

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

“Energy policy after Chernobyl”

The impact of Chernobyl was the largest where its fallout was the smallest – in Germany, where the worst case accident in Ukraine was a catalyst for the nuclear exit debate, writes Andreas Mihm in an op-ed for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. But the German nuclear phase-out remains a national solution that is not copied by many other European countries, even those who suffered the worst from Chernobyl.

Read a CLEW dossier on Germany’s nuclear phase-out here.

Read an interview on the perception of Chernobyl in different European countries here.

Frankfurter Rundschau

“Exit without blackout”

“We honestly thought we could force an immediate nuclear exit [after Chernobyl],” said Jürgen Trittin, Green Party MP and former environment minister in an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau. Chernobyl did mark a decisive point, however, because it made the nuclear sector an industry without a future, Trittin explains. He said he did not understand why the large utilities fought the nuclear phase-out decision of 2000 instead of investing into renewables. “This decision of managers and board members has amongst others led them into their current crisis.”

dpa

“Nuclear commission and utilities are not on the same page”

Utilities and other members of the commission discussing the financing of the nuclear clean-up in Germany have still not found a compromise, writes news agency dpa. The government commission is tasked with suggesting a way to safeguard the provisions that nuclear utilities have made for decommissioning and waste storage so that the polluters pay and not the tax payer. A decision has been scheduled for tomorrow.

Read the article in German here.

Read a CLEW factsheet about securing utility payments for the nuclear clean-up here.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

“Old nuclear plants beyond the border – a location risk”

Warning against nuclear power stations in France, Belgium and Switzerland, just across the border from Germany, is nothing to do with panic or green ideology, writes Sylvia Kotting-Uhl, the Green Party’s spokeswoman on nuclear issues in parliament in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The reactors to the South and West of Germany are old and some of them are in such bad shape when it comes to back-up security that they would not have received operation permits in Germany back in the 1970s. They are also located too close to airports, Kotting-Uhl says. Germany is surrounded by risky reactors, she says.

Süddeutsche Zeitung

“5,000 euros grant for purchase of e-cars”

German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble will today put forth a one-billion-euros e-car funding concept to reach the goal of one million electric cars on the road by 2020, report Cerstin Gammelin and Markus Balser in Süddeutsche Zeitung. Schäuble – who had long been opposed to the idea – plans to invest 600 million euros to grant buyer’s premiums of 5,000 or 3,000 euros for pure electric cars and hybrids respectively, plus an additional 400 million euros for charging station infrastructure and tax incentives. The proposal comes with the condition that the auto industry participate with an additional 600 million euros for the buyer’s premium. The federal government hopes to come to an agreement in a meeting with representatives of German car manufacturers later today. In a separate opinion piece, Gammelin criticises the proposal as misguided support for the car industry: “Tax money can’t be wasted more foolishly.”

Read the article in German here.

Read the opinion piece in German here.

Find a CLEW dossier on the state of Germany’s attempt to decarbonise the mobility sector here.

WDR

“New attack on opencast mine Hambach”

An arson attack on the opencast mine Hambach in western Germany interrupted lignite extraction over the weekend, reports regional broadcaster WDR. Utility RWE said the main power line was in flames and believes anti-lignite activists are to blame. RWE said it would no longer tolerate this kind of resistance and planned to increase security. There was another sabotage attempt at another lignite mine last week, according to the report.

Find the news report here.

German Advisory Council on Global Change

Government advisors – Cities responsible for most of the world’s CO2 emissions

Worldwide urban growth is immense and, if more new settlements are built with cement and steel, the energy-intensive production of building material alone could virtually exhaust the world's emissions budget of the 1.5°C target by 2050, according to a new report by the German Advisory Council on Global Change. “Cities are responsible for a disproportionately high percentage of greenhouse-gas emissions – more than two thirds globally,” according to a press release.

Find a summary of the report in English here and the press release in English here.

E.ON / Handelsblatt

“E.ON and Uniper must first economise”

Essen-based energy company E.ON stands by its decision to spin off its conventional power generation and trading businesses into the new company Uniper. In a press release, the utility described concrete steps of the coming transformation. “It’s right for us to divide our operations into two companies and to enable them to develop their respective businesses in line with their own strategy,” said E.ON CEO Johannes Teyssen. The Uniper spin off will be completed pending the approval of the annual shareholders' meeting on 8 June and E.ON intends to list about 53 percent of Uniper shares on the stock market later this year. E.ON will focus on energy networks, customer solutions, and renewables. “Our objective is to make E.ON into a leading company of the distributed, renewable, and digital energy world,” said Teyssen. In an article in Handelsblatt, Jürgen Flauger writes that both companies must strictly economise to be able to compete in the future.

Find the press release in English here.

Find the article in Handelsblatt in German here.

Handelsblatt

“Billion-euro-project in the Baltic Sea”

E.ON’s decision to move forward with its plan to build an offshore wind park in the German Baltic Sea showed that CEO Johannes Teyssen is serious about the company’s transition, writes Handelsblatt. The wind park “Arkona” will have a capacity of 385 megawatts and is expected to be fully operational in 2019. E.ON shares the investment 50-50 with the Norwegian energy company Statoil.

Read the article in German here.

Find a press release by E.ON in English here.