Germany can deal with cost of climate protection - study
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The effect on the German economy of the bid to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 will be small and positive, according to an unpublished study by Boston Consulting Group and Prognos, writes Andreas Mihm in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The study, commissioned by the Federation of German Industries (BDI), estimates that an additional investment of 1.4 trillion euros is needed to meet the goal. The largest sum was needed in the transport sector, with 450 billion euros, 400 billion euros to refurbish buildings, and energy suppliers had to invest 370 billion euros, writes Mihm. The final report is due to be published after the election and is meant to supply “reliable numbers” for discussions about a long-term climate protection strategy, writes Mihm.
Read the article in German here.
For background, read the CLEW dossier The energy transition and climate change.
WirtschaftsWoche
German economy minister Brigitte Zypries “strongly trusts” that US President Donald Trump will prevent sanctions against German companies that are invested in the construction or operation of pipelines from Russia, the minister wrote in a guest commentary in WirtschaftsWoche. Zypries called on the US government to enter a dialogue with European partners about how to continue “the successful cooperation of past years. […] Energy imports and exports must never become a political or economic weapon,” wrote Zypries.
Read the guest commentary (behind paywall) in German here.
For background, see the News Digest entries Germany and Austria say US sanction plans against Russia threaten Europe’s energy security and Merkel calls US gas sanctions against Russia “irregular behaviour”.
Reuters
A consortium led by Germany’s Siemens was picked by the Turkish government as the winning bidder for a one billion US Dollar wind power project, which will increase Turkey's wind energy production by 17 percent, reports Ercan Gurses for Reuters.
Read the article in English here.
For background, read the CLEW dossier Onshore Wind Power in Germany.
E.ON
German energy company E.ON will integrate the emergency power generators of airport operator Fraport at Frankfurt airport – Germany’s largest airline hub – in its virtual power plant, the company said. The diesel generators can feed up to 5 megawatt of additional power into the public power grid within seconds, E.ON said.
Find the E.ON press release in English here.
Get background on virtual power plants in the dossier explaining how digitalisation propels the energy transition into the next stage.
Deutschlandfunk
Germany currently faces a “Fukushima moment of the German automobile industry”, Green Party head Cem Özdemir told Ann-Kathrin Büüsker for Deutschlandfunk. Germany now had to invest billions of euros in correcting mistakes, instead of investing in the “technologies of tomorrow”. Software updates were not enough to prevent driving bans, said Özdemir: “The air in our cities will not get better with a few mouse clicks, and I doubt that courts will be convinced.”
After the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the German government had re-initiated the nuclear phase-out, accelerating the change of the landscape of the country’s energy industry.
Read the interview in German here.
For more on the summit’s outcome, read the CLEW articles German carmakers pledge diesel software updates and buyer’s bonus and "Win for car industry" - First reactions to German diesel summit.
Handelsblatt
The buyer’s bonus German carmakers will offer for customers switching away from an old diesel will have little effect, writes Lukas Bay in an article in Handelsblatt. The 2,000-euro bonus incentive wasn’t big enough, said Stefan Bratzel, of the Center of Automotive Management (CAM). And owners of ten-year-old vehicles are mainly used-car customers who probably would not buy a new car for 40,000 euros anyway, writes Bay.
For more on the summit’s outcome, read the CLEW articles German carmakers pledge diesel software updates and buyer’s bonus and "Win for car industry" - First reactions to German diesel summit.
Deutsche Welle
As German carmakers are increasingly under pressure to shift from their flagship diesel engines to electro mobility, China has pulled well ahead of Europe and the United States, Dave Keating writes for Deutsche Welle. China rapidly introduced charging infrastructure and a policy initiative to set a quota requiring 10 percent of all new vehicles sold to be electric from 2018 onward, he writes. German carmakers have to react quickly to the move towards e-cars or risk losing important export markets, according to Greenpeace transport expert Benjamin Stephan, quoted in the article.
Read the full story in English here.
Get background on the diesel scandal in the Clean Energy Wire overview and timeline and material on the carmakers fight for the top-spot in e-mobility in the dossier.
Handelsblatt
The diesel emissions scandal and the push for e-mobility will allow German automotive industry supplier Continental to “grow stronger than the market” in the long-term, Member of the Executive Board Wolfgang Schäfer told Handelsblatt in an interview. Continental already had competitive technological solutions for alternative drives, especially in e-mobility. “So, for us this is a trend that allows us to continue to make good profits,” said Schäfer.
Read the interview in German here.
Renewable Energies Agency (AEE)
Power generation from renewables increased in all of Germany’s federal states in 2015, according to an analysis by Renewable Energies Agency (AEE). Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania produced more power from renewables than the total amount of electricity each state consumed, writes AEE in a press release.
Find the press release in German here and the full paper in German here.
For background, read the CLEW factsheet German federalism: In 16 states of mind over the Energiewende.
BDEW / Zukunft Erdgas / others
German industry associations such as BDEW, Zukunft Erdgas and the German Biogas Association released a joint statement emphasising the potential of energy source gas for climate protection. Gas could help Germany reach its climate targets in heating, transport, and regarding sector coupling.
Find the statement in German here.
