Financing coal abroad / Offshore wind is picking up speed
Die Zeit
“Billions from the state for coal-fired power plants”
State development bank KfW supports coal-fired power plants and other coal-related projects abroad through its subsidiary IPEX, with loans amounting to 1.5 billion euros, the government has told the Green Parliamentary group in a document seen by Die Zeit. In autumn 2014, Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks had promised to stop KfW financing for coal projects abroad - but this does not apply to IPEX, Claus Hecking writes. However, the institute had not given any financing commitments to new projects since 2014, he says.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
“Building offshore wind farms is picking up speed”
German utility E.ON this week officially inaugurated its new 288 megawatt Amrumbank West wind farm in the German North Sea - and is planning further projects, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. E.ON invested 1 billion euros into the offshore wind farm, which took two years to build. The investment decision for “Arkona Becken Südost” in the Baltic Sea is pending, and planning for “Delta Nordsee” is underway. E.ON is on the way to lowering the costs for offshore wind power after a steep learning curve and managing to industrialise the construction of wind farms, CEO Johannes Teyssen said.
Süddeutsche Zeitung
“The eternal hot dream”
Nuclear fusion – as tested in the newly launched experimental reactor Wendelstein 7-X, in Greifswald – is perfect for a heated debate about energy solutions, writes Patrick Illinger in a commentary for the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Some argue that it is worth many billions of tax payers’ money to do the research in case there will be a clean nuclear power form in the end. But even if nuclear fusion does some day work, the huge and complex reactors would centralise the energy supply in a questionable way, the author points out. Millions of households and companies would be dependent on one single energy source. In that sense, the small scale Greifswald experiment is better than the Iter project in southern France, he says.
Federal Network Agency
Fourth auction period for solar PV open
The Federal Network Agency has announced the framework conditions for the fourth solar PV auction period in Germany. At 125 megawatt (MW), the tendered volume is considerably smaller than in the previous round (200 MW). For the first time solar projects will be permitted on arable land where farming is not viable. A maximum price is set at 11.09 cent per kilowatt-hour.
Read the press release in German here.
Read a CLEW factsheet on switching renewables funding from feed-in tariffs to auctions here.
Frankfurter Rundschau
“World leader when it comes to efficiency”
The complete energy budget of wind turbines is very good despite large amounts of steel being needed for their construction, Susanne Götze and Susanne Schwarz report in the Frankfurter Rundschau. An offshore wind turbine in the German North Sea can produce the energy needed for its construction within nine to 12 months. Onshore wind turbines amortise even faster, within half a year, the article says. If old wind turbines are recycled, their emission and resource balance becomes even more favourable.
Financing solar power in Morocco
Morocco has launched its first solar power plant, Noor I, with a capacity of 160 megawatt and the ability to produce power for 350,000 people, KfW reports. In the coming years, more plants with a total capacity of 580 megawatt will be established. German state owned development bank KfW has given 20 percent (115 million euros) of the foreign capital invested into Noor and will continue to support Noor II, III and IV with over 700 million euros, a press release states.
Read the press release in German here.
