EU nuclear provisions '100 bln euros short' / Wind mill envy
Spiegel Online
“Internal market analysis: EU member states’ nuclear provisions more than 100 billion euros short”
An EU analysis has revealed that the member states are not well prepared for the pending closure of many old nuclear power plants, report Stefan Schultz and Britta Kollenbroich for Spiegel Online. The costs of reducing nuclear power will amount to 268 billion euros by 2050, but provisions only add up to 150 billion euros, according to the paper which Spiegel has seen. The document will be presented by energy commissioner Miguel Arias Canete on 24 February. Dismantling the power plants will cost an estimated 126 billion euros and storing nuclear waste 142 billion euros, the document claims.
Read the article in German here.
Find a CLEW factsheet on Germany’s nuclear clean-up costs here.
Read a CLEW dossier on Germany’s nuclear legacy here.
Tagesspiegel
“For Czechs, lignite has a future”
Czech utility CEZ wants to keep the 8,000 jobs in East German mining region Lusatia’s lignite industry if it can take over the business from Swedish utility Vattenfall, reports Kilian Kirchgeßner in Tagesspiegel. CEZ chairman of the board Daniel Benes said he expected lignite to be used as a bridge technology until 2035 to 2050. But he said the German government should specify the timetable for a coal exit. He added his company would make a binding offer by 16 March, according to the report.
Read the article in German here.
Find a CLEW factsheet on Vattenfall’s assets for sale and who wants to buy here.
Frankfurter Allgmeine Zeitung
“The fight about wind mills”
The German federal government favours wind power installations in the north of the country, a representative of the municipal utility Stadtwerke Kassel, Hesse, says in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. But many in the southern states of Germany would like to generate their own power close to the industrial centres which would also make the costly north-south grid expansion less pressing, writes Claus Peter Müller. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is trying to find a compromise in the Renewable Energy Act reform but both northern and southern German MPs criticise the plans as disadvantaging their regions.
Read the article in German here.
Der Tagesspiegel
“Steel industry sees itself close to the edge”
German steel workers’ union IG Metall is fighting the EU Commission’s plans to toughen the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), writes Alfons Frese in Der Tagesspiegel. They claim that higher prices for emission allowances would cost German steel companies one billion euros more per year in the next decade. The cost would mean that the “survival of the steel industry would be impossible”, IG Metall says, according to Frese. More steel would be produced abroad, where it was connected with higher CO2 emissions, the industry argues. They suggest that the most efficient steel works in Europe should receive free allocations of emission allowances.
Read the article in German here.
Read a CLEW factsheet on industry electricity prices in Germany here.
taz.de
“Tilting at windmills”
Environmental group Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) wants to file a second lawsuit against the construction of an offshore terminal in the North Sea port of Bremerhaven, reports Jean-Philipp Baeck in newspaper tageszeitung. The terminal for shipping huge wind turbines is to be built in a wildlife sanctuary and might not be needed because Siemens decided last year to produce the technology in nearby Cuxhaven, instead of in Bremerhaven, argues BUND.
Read the article in German here.
Süddeutsche Zeitung
“Climate abstinence”
The average CO2 emissions of a German citizen would fill an 11-tonne balloon, writes Robert Gast in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. By comparison, an elephant weighs around 2 tonnes, and a church bell 7 or 8 tonnes. The problem for climate action – beyond large conference decisions as in Paris last year – is that “the individual can change nothing but without the individual, nothings changes”, sustainability expert Michael Bilharz, from the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), tells the author. The article lists ways in which the individual can reduce their CO2 emissions by 40 percent without any large loss of comfort. They include: change to an eco-power supplier, if possible change the heating source from oil and gas to renewables, eat regional food, eat meat only on weekends, drive less by car, offset flights by financing sustainable energy projects, and reduce the frequent buying of gadgets such as laptops.
Fraunhofer ISI / Ecofys
“Higher costs for renewables because of instable energy policy”
Capital costs for investments into onshore wind power vary considerably between European countries, a study by Fraunhofer ISI and Ecofys has found. The main reason is the different risk that investors face, due to variations in policy frameworks for renewables in different countries. Development costs for onshore wind power could be reduced by 15 percent if risk perception was reduced by countries being clearer and more reliable about framework conditions for renewables, the study found.
Read the study in English here.
