German chancellor promises monitoring of renewables expansion to stay on track for 2030 target
Clean Energy Wire
A monitoring system for the expansion of renewable energy sources and better planning tools for companies are needed to ensure a reliable transformation of Germany’s economy, chancellor Olaf Scholz said after the third meeting of the country’s “Transformation Alliance”. The format was launched by the government coalition to foster dialogue on climate action and the economy between policymakers, business leaders and civil society representatives. “We want to take concrete steps to up the pace,” Scholz said, adding that an “early monitoring” of renewable power expansion is one of the steps needed to ensure electricity consumption can be covered by 80 percent renewable power sources by 2030. The chancellor said that up to five wind turbines, solar arrays of a combined size of 43 football pitches, 1,600 heat pumps and about four kilometres of transmission lines should be constructed every day until 2030. “These are ambitious and aspiring targets, but they are targets that we can reach and also want to reach,“ Scholz argued. Expansion monitoring should serve to quickly identify deficits and responses accordingly. At the same time, the companies involved should be provided with as much planning security as possible to carry out necessary investments for a faster expansion, he added. This includes hiring between 300,000 and 500,000 workers for a wide range of jobs linked to the energy transition. “The skilled crafts and trades play a key role in climate action. Many jobs of the future are in these skilled trades,” the chancellor said.
The expansion of renewable power sources is the central measure the government intends to take to put the country on track to reaching its climate targets. More renewable power capacity, especially wind and solar, is needed to electrify large parts of the energy system that currently run on fossil fuels, including power generation, heating and mobility. After a phase of fast expansion in around 2010, renewable energy buildout stalled in the following years and has only recently picked back up again.
