In the media: Trade unions back coal, wind energy trouble, renewables ranking

Die Tageszeitung (taz)

"Trade union association DGB gets on side with coal"

What started off as an appeal by industry and energy unions is now supported by most German trade unions (apart from the one for education) including the umbrella organisation DGB, Malte Kreutzfeldt writes in the taz. Yesterday, the DGB officially endorsed a petition in favour of “affordable electricity and good jobs”. Kreutzfeld says this is surprising, as the DGB has traditionally been pro-Energiewende, seeing it as a chance for new jobs. Now the energy transition is portrayed as a threat that “endangers jobs for ideological reasons,” the petition reads. Mining and energy trade union IG BCE, which initiated the campaign, recently said that it would be acceptable if “Germany falls short of its climate reduction target by a few years,” Kreutzfeld writes.

See the taz article in German here.

See the DGB’s press release in German here.

NDR

“Wind energy trouble in the Energiewende state”

I the northern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern the dispute over wind turbines is heating up, reports Stefan Ludmann on Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). 40 citizen initiatives demanded a stop to further development of wind parks because the state “was losing its image of spaciousness and unobstructed landscape views”. The wind energy lobby retaliated by stressing that most turbines were built near motorways and roads and generally never in nature reserves – only 0.6 percent of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is currently used for wind power development.

See the article in German here.

Renewable Energies Agency

“State comparison study on renewable energies 2014”

A study comissioned by the Renewable Energies Agency (AEE) has examined which German states (Bundesland) have had the most success in developing renewable energies. The result: Bavaria pushes Brandenburg out of first place, with the south of Germany generally gaining compared to northern states. The study (which is carried out every two years) not only looks at actual renewable capacity but viewed 60 indicators including facilitation by government policies (judged by environmental NGOs), research and jobs in the renewable sector. Southern Germany scored highly mainly as a result increased photovoltaic capacity, while north German Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was singled out for exceptional facilitation of renewable growth, and Niedersachsen for research and development.

Download the study in German here.

See an article on tagesschau.de in German here.

Süddeutsche Zeitung

"Long shadows: Government misses targets on solar power"

Markus Balser writes that figures from the German Solar Industry Association (BSW) and the German grid operator (Bundesnetzagentur) seen by the Süddeutsche Zeitung show that only 1.7 gigawatts of new photovoltaic power facilities has been installed so far in 2014, a figure which could rise to 2 GW by the end of the year, but would still fall short of the government’s 2.5 GW target and represent a 40 percent drop on the previous year. The article quotes the Green party’s Julia Verlinden as saying that the revised renewable energy law is to blame. “The missed development target for photovoltaic is just the beginning,” Verlinden told the newspaper. “By moving to a tender system the government has prepared the Energiewende for its next set-back.”

For more on the revised renewable energy law see CLEW's dossier here.