Merkel: Will likely miss e-car target / CDU, SPD reject fast coal exit

Energy experts of Germany’s grand coalition of conservatives (CDU/CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD) have rebuffed the Green Party’s plans for an accelerated coal exit. “We cannot phase out both nuclear and coal-fired power production within 15 or 20 years,” conservative Thomas Bareiß said at a party debate hosted by utilities RWE and innogy. Bareiß argued that exiting coal “with a sledgehammer-approach” would “massively damage” Germany’s industrial capacity and undermine the “basis of our prosperity”. The SPD’s Bernd Westphal said his party would put “no signature” under a hypothetical coalition treaty with the Greens that included an accelerated coal exit. Westphal said the energy transition affected “a very diverse array of interests” and limiting debate to climate protection was “wrong”. The Green Party’s Julia Verlinden said accelerating Germany’s coal exit was “a red line” for her party as “there is simply no other way to meet our climate goals”. She rejected the other parties’ insistence on a market-based approach for exiting coal as “there is no market because carbon emission costs are not internalised”. Verlinden added that a coal exit was inevitable and taking action now would “increase our flexibility and allow for better adaptation” by affected industries. In their draft election programme, the Greens envisage a coal exit by 2030.

See the CLEW factsheet When will Germany finally ditch coal? for background.

German and Austrian energy regulators have agreed to cap peaks in the exchange of power from October 2018 to reflect lagging grid development between the two countries, announced Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) and E-Control in separate press releases. "We expect the congestion management scheme to provide noticeable relief in the context of re-dispatch actions,” said Jochen Homann, president of BNetzA. This would bring down costs for German power consumers. In the future, up to 4,900 megawatts can be allocated as long-term capacity. This was equivalent to about half of Austrian consumption in peak periods, said E-Control. Action became necessary in the common power price zone because Austrian electricity consumers often bought more power from German providers than the grid could transport, according to the German economy ministry. This led to costly re-dispatch measures to deal with the congestion. The agreement followed months of negotiations after BNetzA had announced last year that it would split the common price zone.

Find the BNetzA press release in English here and E-Control’s press release in English here.

For background read the CLEW articles Loop flows: Why is wind power from northern Germany putting east European grids under pressure? and Europe's largest electricity market set to split.

Most people in Germany doubt that the country’s energy transition can be pursued according to plans and without greater difficulties, according to a representative survey that utility RWE presented at a debate meeting in Berlin. A majority of 69 percent of those surveyed said they did not expect the Energiewende to run smoothly, whereas 28 percent said they were optimistic the project could be carried out as planned. The survey, commissioned by RWE, also said affordability and supply security were by far the chief concerns in energy transition, while energy autonomy and renewables expansion ranked significantly lower. At the same time, most respondents said the Green Party had the greatest energy policy expertise at 26 percent, followed by the conservative union of CDU/CSU with 22 percent, and the SPD with 8 percent. Forty percent of respondents said no party boasted major expertise in the field.

See the CLEW factsheet Polls reveal citizens’ support for Energiewende for more information.