Strong wind power pushes down coal in January / Cartel office eyes RWE
Handelsblatt / BDEW
Year-on-year hard coal power production in Germany decreased by 53 percent in January 2018, Handelsblatt’s Klaus Stratmann writes. The figures are based on unpublished data from the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW). Electricity generation from lignite (soft coal) was down seven percent, while wind power production increased by almost 90 percent, the figures show.
Read the article in German here.
Clean Energy Wire
Germany’s new environment minister Svenja Schulze says acting on climate change must not be a project for the elites. At the German government’s 4th Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD), Schulze said policymakers had to ensure that the necessary changes, such as an exit from coal-fired power production, do not leave whole regions behind.
Check CLEW’s rolling coverage of the BETD for more news.
dpa
The renewable energy sector will be competitive without financial support within the next four to five years, Germany’s Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier said on the sidelines of the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue. As an example, he gave the halving of development costs in the wind onshore business. “Today we can build renewable energy installations at a fraction of the costs of the past,” Altmaier said. He also stressed that he wanted to accelerate planning permission for new power lines because “the energy transition can only succeed if the necessary grid connections are in place”.
Read a CLEW dossier on the power grid in the energy transition here.
Die Welt
Germany’s automobile industry has had a lot of “false friends” in the government in recent years, Green Party politician and head of the parliamentary commission on transport and digitalisation Cem Özdemir told Ansgar Graw at Die Welt in an interview. By putting a brake on emission-free mobility, they put a brake on innovations, Özdemir said.
Read the article in German here.
Read a CLEW dossier on German carmakers in the energy transition here.
See the CLEW dossier The next German government and the energy transition for background.
Handelsblatt / Reuters
The planned deal between German utility heavyweights RWE and E.ON to split up RWE’s spin-off innogy between them has attracted the attention of Germany’s cartel office, the Bundeskartellamt, Handelsblatt reports based on information provided by news agency Reuters. Cartel office president Andreas Mundt said RWE’s share in wholesaler power retailing of one third made it the biggest player in that market. “I don’t say that’s problematic. I also don’t say that this is an easy situation. We might have to have a look at it in due course,” Mundt said. Germany’s first competition guardian added the deal’s effects on renewable power production, grids and retailing are “manageable”.
Read the article in German here.
See the CLEW dossier Utilities and the energy transition for background.
Focus online
China is the biggest market for e-cars with an additional 142,445 cars in the first quarter of 2018, followed by the US (54,000) and Germany (17,549) when it comes to the number of newly registered electric vehicles (pure electric and plug-in hybrid), Focus Online reports. When looking at the market share of electric vehicles, Norway remains in lead.
Read the article in German here.
See the CLEW article Economy minister Altmaier calls for mobility transition push for more information.
See the CLEW article Economy minister Altmaier calls for mobility transition push for more
die tageszeitung – taz
The new IRENA report “Global Energy Transformation: A Roadmap to 2050” finds that renewable energy needs to be scaled up six fold to keep the temperature rise below 2°C, but it turns a blind eye to the problem Germany is facing despite very high renewable energy growth, writes Bernhard Pötter in an op-ed for die tageszeitung – taz. More renewables only benefit the climate if coal, oil and gas disappear at the same time, he says. Germany’s energy transition has not achieved this so far: billions have been spent on wind turbines but emissions have not fallen because the country continues to burn coal, Pötter says.
Read the op-ed in German here.
See the CLEW dossier The energy transition and climate change for more information.
