Moves to cap renewables / West German buyer for east German lignite?
tageszeitung
“Short-sighted cap fans”
Despite fighting climate change being a national objective and renewables now the cheapest source of energy, leading conservative politicians want to use reform of the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) to halt the development of renewables, writes Malte Kreutzfeldt in the taz. Kreutzfeldt says this is absurd because following the Paris Agreement, Germany must do much more to reach the 2 degree target on global warming, let alone a limit of 1.5 degrees. Moreover, the limit introduced in the reformed legislation is on the share of renewables in the energy mix, not absolute capacity. With power demand set to rise, stronger growth of renewables is needed in the coming years, Kreutzfeldt argues.
See the article in German here.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
“Energiewende will cost consumers billions”
The FAZ reports that grid development costs could amount to 40 billion euros over the next decade. The four big German transmission grid operators have submitted plans to the Federal Network Agency for grid extensions to be built by 2025. A decision to use underground rather than overhead cables has increased costs by 8 billion euros, the article says. Other costs include 5 billion euros to connect offshore wind farms to the grid.
“Soft Power for Solar Power: Germany’s New Climate Foreign Policy”
Germanwatch has released a study looking at Germany’s efforts to integrate climate change into its foreign policy agenda. The study found that in some areas, Germany’s diplomatic efforts on climate change had been “surprisingly effective”, the environmental group said in a press release, citing the G7 agreement. However, some areas “display a lack of coherence, for example the parallel existence of the old energy security diplomacy and the new climate and ‘Energiewende’ diplomacy,” the statement said.
See the press release and study in English here.
See CLEW's dossier on the European context of the Germany Energiwende here.
See CLEW's dossier on the energy transition and international security here.
Power Magazine
“Germany’s Energiewende at a New Turning Point”
In 2015, Germany increased its renewable power capacity by more than ever before, Lee Buchsbaum writes for Power Magazine, but disruptions to the rest of the energy sector may be behind government moves to “slow the green trend down”. The big four energy companies had warned that expanding renewables would mean higher power prices and threaten grid stability – but they have been proved wrong, as wholesale power prices have – and continue to – fall and Germany’s grid ranks among the most reliable in Europe.
See the article in English here.
Research Centre for Energy Economics
“Power transition with tailwind”
According to an analysis by the Research Centre for Energy Economics reports, renewable power generation is set to exceed government targets, achieving a share of up to 85 percent of consumption by 2035. According to their projections renewables could make up 60 percent of the energy mix in 2025, mainly due to technological progress in wind turbines, compared to the government target of 40 - 45 percent. The institute said this level of growth must go hand in hand with the development of the grid and storage, and changes to the power market design.
See the statement in German, with diagram of projected renewable development here.
energypost
“Wind top new power generation source in Europe”
Wind is now Europe’s third largest source of power, with 142 gigawatts (GW) or one third of all installed capacity, energypost reports. Germany has more installed capacity – 45 GW – than any other country, and was responsible for 47 percent of new wind capacity additions in 2015, the article says. E.ON and RWE were the biggest installers of offshore wind in Germany.
See the article in English here.
dpa
“East German lignite: Steag in the running?”
West German power producer Steag could bid for Vattenfall’s brown coal operations in Lausitz, dpa reports. So far, the company, which is owned by local municipalities on the Ruhr region, has declined to comment on whether it will make an offer on the assets. Environmental groups are petitioning Steag offices and town halls with a stake in the company not to. However, the powerful IG BCE trade union is open to the idea, dpa reports, and its head is vice-chairman of the board for Steag.
See the article in German here.
Federal Environment Ministry
"Electric buses important for sustainable mobility"
The Federal Environment Ministry has announced a new subsidy programme for electric buses. Speaking at a conference of the Association of German Transport Companies, Environment Secretary Jochen Flasbarth said the government was promoting the use of emissions-free buses to improve urban quality of life. A funding policy was currently being drawn up to expand support for hybrid buses to electric vehicles, Flasbarth said. The city of Cologne recently added eight electric buses to its fleet.
See a press release from the ministry in German here.
See CLEW’s dossier on the energy transition in the transport sector here.
KfW Group / Germany Trade & Invest
“German government announces further promotional measures for PV battery installations”
The German government launched a new phase of support for PV battery storage on 1 March, with loans available from the KfW development bank and subsidies from the Energy and Economy Ministry. The programme is aimed at stimulating the market and technological development of smaller PV storage systems and will run until 2018.
See a statement in German from KfW here.
See a statement in English from GTAi here.
pv magazine
“Daimler to invest 500 million euros in second German battery production plant”
German carmaker Daimler has announced plans to invest 500 millions euros in a plant producing lithium-ion batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles, pv magazine reports. Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said the plant would respond to growing demand for electro-mobility. The factory is to be built adjacent to an existing plant in Saxony and is expected to begin production in summer 2017.
See the article in German here.
Federal Motor Transport Authority
“Vehicle registrations in February 2016”
In February, 751 new electric cars, and 3,532 new hybrid cars were registered in Germany, according to a statement from the Federal Motor Transport Authority. 47.2 percent of vehicles registered were diesel. The average CO2 value fell to 127.5g/km.
Find the press release in German here.
