“Worries about the Energiewende”

Many pro-Energiewende politicians are complaining bitterly about plans to rein in renewables expansion through the reform of Renewable Energy Act, but in reality, the government is still going ahead with plans for a 45 percent renewables share in 2025, up from 29 percent today, writes the former head of utility RWE’s management board, Jürgen Grossmann and former Hamburg environment minister Fritz Vahrenholt in an op-ed the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Citing a host of effects from the Energiewende, they say the government continues full steam ahead, “regardless of how much that damages the competitiveness of our economy, regardless of how many jobs that costs and regardless of social considerations.”  The writers would like to see the expansion of renewable carried out in a more measured way, and criticise that it currently doesn’t take enough account of economic and electricity network needs.

Read a sampling of opinions on the recent renewables reform in a CLEW factsheet here.