Bavarian industry association gives mixed review on German energy transition

Germany’s power supply is secure at the moment, but continued grid expansion delays would pose a great challenge, the Bavarian Industry Association (vbw) said in a press release accompanying its 8th monitoring report on Germany’s energy transition. The assessment, conducted by consultancy Prognos AG, focuses mainly on the electricity sector both in Germany as a whole and in the southern economic powerhouse Bavaria in particular and assesses 2018 data. The report highlights that German efforts on energy efficiency are insufficient to reach targets as energy consumption remains too high. However, Germany is on track regarding its current renewables targets. vbw called on the federal government to ensure a lowering of industry power prices to safeguard competitiveness.

The official assessment of Germany’s landmark Energiewende is conducted once a year and published by the federal economy ministry in a comprehensive Energiewende Monitoring Report. It covers and analyses the most crucial developments and targets of the energy transition in the current year, such as the share of renewables in power production, primary energy consumption, GHG emissions and energy efficiency. The report is accompanied by an in-depth opinion by the independent expert commission on Energiewende monitoring. The last report dates from mid-2019.