Government plans new incentives for e-cars
Rheinische Post
“Grand coalition plans buyers’ incentives for electric cars”
The German government plans to introduce new incentives for e-cars, transport minister Alexander Dobrindt told the Rheinische Post. “A working group consisting of the chancellery, transport ministry, finance ministry, economics ministry, and the heads of the coalition's parliamentary groups is currently working on a programme to give e-mobility a further push,” Dobrindt said. “Electric mobility will prevail. But we want to create a stronger dynamic,” he added.
The government is a long way off its goal to get one million e-cars on the road by 2020 – at present, only about 30,000 e-cars drive on German roads.
Read the article in German here.
Handelsblatt
“Utility presses ahead with lignite sale”
Swedish utility Vattenfall has told several bidders interested in buying its German lignite operations to make binding offers by early March, according to a Handelsblatt report. Unnamed sources familiar with the transaction told the paper Czech utilities EPH and CEZ and German power producer Steag are still in the race. Finance investors had also said they were interested in the assets for sale, according to the report by Jürgen Flauger. Industry sources told Flauger it would be interesting to see whether all the parties addressed by Vattenfall would now make a binding offer, and also whether the sale would earn Vattenfall much money.
Read the article in German here.
Find a CLEW factsheet on the assets for sale here.
Federal German Association for Brown Coal (DEBRIV)
Mercury health risks cannot be attributed solely to coal power plants
Efforts in Europe have slowed the rise of man-made mercury emissions and should be copied in other world regions, according to a brochure published by the Federal German Association for Brown Coal (DEBRIV). “Health risks and high mercury concentrations in food cannot be attributed solely to mercury emissions by coal power plants,” states the publication. It says Germany is the only European country with very strict limits on mercury emissions from power plants.
Earlier this week, a study commissioned by the Green party had said not a single German coal power plant would be allowed to operate under US mercury limits.
Download DEBRIV’s brochure here.
Rheinische Post
Environment minister says lignite exit possible by 2040
Germany can stop generating power with brown coal within 25 years, according to environment minister Barbara Hendricks. “I am convinced we can exit lignite-fired power generation by 2040 without causing structural ruptures or social dislocations,” Hendricks told the Rheinische Post. “Our climate targets will force us to organise a CO2-free energy supply by 2050 at the latest, anyway.” She added it is already possible today to determine how long opencast mines will operate, and the government had to discuss these issues now with federal states, utilities, unions and other parties.
Hendricks said Germany’s Climate Protection Plan 2050, which is to be approved by cabinet by mid-2016, will have a correspondingly broad approach. “I am sure: We will agree on a way on how to exit lignite.”
Find the interview, which was originally published on 24 December, here.
Potsdamer Neue Nachrichten
Social Democrats in lignite mining area prepare for quick brown coal exit
The Social Democrats in the eastern German lignite mining state Brandenburg are slowly changing course to prepare for a rapid brown coal exit, even though they still reject it, writes Thorsten Metzner in the Potsdamer Neue Nachrichten. The state’s party leadership agreed the federal government will have to provide sizeable financial support if it decides to speed up the structural change, according to a statement. Metzner writes that the statement is a reaction to the turning tide against coal on a national level. The Social Democrats (SPD) are Brandenburg’s ruling party and form a coalition with Angela Merkel’s CDU in Berlin’s federal government.
Federal Grid Agency
Lower price in third round of PV auctions
The third round of auctions for large solar arrays resulted in a tariff of 8.00 cents per kWh, compared to 8.49 cents at the last auction, according to the Federal Grid agency (Bundesnetzagentur). The agency’s president Jochen Homann said the auction was a testimony to intense competition. He said his agency will watch closely to see whether the arrays will really be built at these tariffs. Because winning bidders all get a uniform price, some bidders may have bid low, hoping for a higher tariff.
Find the press release in German here.
Read a CLEW article on the auctions here.
“KfW important partner for financing the Energiewende”
State bank KfW supported 44 percent of newly installed renewable power capacity in 2013 and 2014, according to a press release. An evaluation of its domestic programmes showed renewable plants supported by the bank reduce Germany's yearly CO2 emissions by about 9.5 million tonnes. Renewable energy investments supported by KfW totalled 14.4 billion euros, of which 70 percent went into onshore wind projects and 15 percent into photovoltaic projects.
Find the press release in German here.
