Gas plant to replace coal facility / Enercon to cut German production
Handelsblatt Online
A coal-fired power plant in Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, is to be replaced by a gas-fired plant with turbines delivered from Siemens, Handelsblatt Online reports. Upon its completion, expected in four years, it will be one of Germany’s largest gas plants, according to the article. Energy company STEAG, which is planning the construction of the plant, specialises in hard coal but is shifting to new sources of energy, the article says.
Read the article in German here.
For background, read the factsheet Germany’s Siemens: a case study in Energiewende industry upheaval and the dossier The energy transition and Germany’s power grid.
Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung
Because orders from the German market are subsiding, wind turbine manufacturer Enercon, located in the German state of Lower Saxony, will focus more on international customers, Jens Heitmann writes in the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung. This will cost over 800 jobs in German companies delivering parts to Enercon, as in the future it will source these components from local companies in the countries were the turbines are installed, Heitmann writes. The wind turbine producer, which employs 18,000 people, cites policy changes in Germany, i.e. the switch from set feed-in tariffs to auctions, as the reason for a reduced interest in wind technology.
Read the article in German here.
For background, read a CLEW dossier on the wind power sector in Germany here.
Clean Energy Wire
The German federal cabinet has decided on a draft law to restrict marine geoengineering, technology involving large-scale technical measures to artificially reduce the atmosphere’s CO2 concentration, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU) has announced in a press release. In accordance with additional requirements under the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (London Protocol), the new law, which has to be voted on in parliament, would permit so-called sea fertilisation in German waters only under strict conditions and for research purposes, the BMU writes.
Read the press release in German here.
Süddeutsche Zeitung
Following in the footsteps of federal states Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, North-Rhine Westphalia, and Baden-Württemberg, the Bavarian government is vying to host American car company Tesla’s Gigafactory, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reports. Bavaria’s minister of economic affairs, Franz Josef Pschierer, is lobbying for the car manufacturer to opt for northern Bavaria in particular, according to the article. Bavaria “offers excellent conditions,” Pschierer said.
Read the article in German here.
For background, read the dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers and the article Chinese-German battery cell deal key step for mobility transition.
Die Welt
The German federal government’s new support programme for electric vehicles benefits Tesla in particular, economics correspondent Philipp Vetter writes in Die Welt. The programme, which runs until the end of 2021, allows employees who drive company electric cars for private purposes to pay 50 percent less each month in their so-called “non-cash benefit”. Thus, the more expensive the vehicle, the greater the tax break, according to Vetter. Because some Tesla models cost between 60,000 and 120,000 euros, employees who drive the American cars are entitled to a particularly substantial tax break, Vetter writes.
Read the article in German here.
For background, read the dossiers The Energiewende and German carmakers and The energy transition and Germany’s transport sector.
Süddeutsche Zeitung
Cities play a vital role in the implementation of the Paris climate accord, Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, writes in an opinion piece in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. By endeavouring to produce enough green electricity to cover 100 percent of its own needs by 2025, Munich is an example of a municipality taking the lead on climate change, Figueres writes. Similar action at the local level will be needed across Germany – and the world – if the Paris Agreement is to succeed, according to Figueres. But for such action to take place, cities, national governments, and large corporations must strive to raise one billion dollars annually by 2020 to finance green investments, according to Figueres. “Better future prospects for cities means a better future for us all, who collectively share the planet’s precious atmosphere,” she writes.
Read the opinion piece in German here.
For background, read the dossier Cities, municipalities, and the Energiewende and the factsheet Cities’ & municipalities’ role in the Energiewende.
