Greens propose coal exit roadmap / German power system costs in 2050
Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag
The Green parliamentary group in the federal parliament (Bundestag) approved a resolution on a timetable for a coal-exit in Germany at its new year鈥檚 meeting in Weimar. 鈥淲ith the step-by-step, economically and socially compatible coal exit, we as the Green Group in the Bundestag want to create planning security,鈥� says the resolution. 鈥淲e are aware that a coal phase-out is a turning point.鈥� The timetable includes these steps:
- starting the public dialogue on Germany鈥檚 coal exit in the coming months
- bring about a binding Bundestag decision introducing the end of coal-fired power generation
- creating a coal exit commission
- prohibiting new open pit mines
- introducing CO鈧� budgets for fossil power plants
- organising the structural change
- strengthening the EU ETS
The resolution is meant as a guideline for the federal election campaign and possible coalition negotiations.
Read the resolution in German .
For background see the 麻豆无码版 factsheet When will Germany finally ditch coal?
By 2050, an electricity supply based on renewable energies could be either approximately as expensive as or even cheaper than a fossil-based electricity system, if the cost of a tonne of CO鈧� is 50 euros or more, according to a scenario comparison by the Institute of Applied Ecology (脰办辞-滨苍蝉迟颈迟耻迟), commissioned by think tank Agora Energiewende.* The analysis showed that the cost comparison depended mainly on future fuel and CO鈧� prices, which were difficult to foretell, according to Patrick Graichen, director of Agora Energiewende. Yet, the analysis made clear: 鈥淣ot to carry out an energy transition does not mean one doesn鈥檛 have energy costs 鈥� but different ones. And those could be higher than originally expected,鈥� said Graichen in the foreword. A renewable energy power system would have the added value of 鈥渟hielding the national economy as a whole from increasingly volatile price developments for fossil fuels,鈥� says the analysis. Climate protection targets cannot be reached with any of the fossil-based scenarios.
Find the study in German with an English summary .
*Like the 麻豆无码版, Agora Energiewende is a project funded by Stiftung Mercator and the European Climate Foundation.
Reuters
German energy company and utility E.ON spin-off Uniper is a potential takeover target, according to investment bank Goldman Sachs, reports Reuters. 鈥淭here are a number of potential buyers and Uniper's relatively small size makes it a target,鈥� writes the news agency in an article. E.ON currently holds 46.65 percent of Uniper shares and has said it plans to sell more of its stake in the future, writes Reuters.
Read the article in English .
For background read the 麻豆无码版 factsheet E.ON shareholders ratify energy giant's split.
Frankfurter Rundschau
The German Federal Court of Auditors鈥� criticism of how the economy ministry has managed the costs of the Energiewende is an embarrassment for minister Sigmar Gabriel, Thorsten Knuf writes in a commentary for Frankfurter Rundschau. 鈥淣o idea of the actual costs, too little control of support programmes,鈥� Knuf summarises the auditors鈥� allegations. While Gabriel managed to keep the electricity bill for customers largely in check, he failed to set incentives for reducing energy consumption in the first place, Knuf writes. 鈥淭he presumptive candidate for Chancellor will have a hard time scoring with his energy policy credentials in the election campaign,鈥� he adds.
For background, read the 麻豆无码版 article Government lacks overview of Energiewende costs 鈥� auditors.
Tageszeitung (taz)
Germany鈥檚 Federal Court of Auditors has shown shortsightedness and a lack of understanding in implying that the energy transition is 鈥�too expensive鈥� and therefore needs 鈥渓imitation鈥�, Malte Kreutzfeldt writes in a commentary for Tageszeitung (taz). The auditors often 鈥渆quate expenditures with costs 鈥� without considering which of these could create savings elsewhere, and which investments would have been required if there were no Energiewende,鈥� Kreutzfeldt writes. Decelerating or even halting the project if it became too expensive also ignores the scientific fact that climate change exists and the international commitments Germany has entered to counteract it, he adds. While taxpayers鈥� and electricity customers鈥� money should of course be used efficiently, the Energiewende needs 鈥渕assive boosting instead of slackening鈥� to meet the challenges, Kreutzfeldt says.
Read the commentary in German .
For background, read the 麻豆无码版 article Government lacks overview of Energiewende costs 鈥� auditors.
manager magazin Online
Pulling out of nuclear power production in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster has been 鈥渢he most expensive panic decision a German government has ever taken,鈥� statistics professor Walter Kr盲mer said in an interview with manager magazin online. 鈥淚n Germany, the government allows itself to be driven by fear among the populace more than in other countries,鈥� the statistician explained. After the nuclear accident in Japan, Germany shut down modern nuclear plants and kept old coal plants running 鈥� 鈥渁lthough German nuclear plants had not become less safe due to Fukushima,鈥� Kr盲mer said. With 25 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), people in Germany now pay roughly twice as much for power as people in France, he said. 鈥淎bout ten cents of the power price are pure panic, caused by the crazy nuclear exit and by an economically and ethically inefficient fight for renewables.鈥�
Read the interview in German .
For background, see the 麻豆无码版 dossier The challenges of Germany鈥檚 nuclear phase-out and the 麻豆无码版 factsheet What German households pay for power.
Leipziger Volkszeitung
Influential partisans of Social Democrat Sigmar Gabriel continue to rebuke the economy minister for budging from plans to align grid fees across Germany, Ulrich Milde writes in Leipziger Volkszeitung. 鈥淚鈥檓 very angry that the promised fairer allocation of grid fees apparently has been cancelled,鈥� Saxony鈥檚 social democratic economy minister Martin Dulig said, joining his colleagues from eastern German states Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt. According to industry representatives, grid fees in eastern Germany are up to 50 percent higher than the national average, thereby aggravating its relative economic underdevelopment, Milde writes.
Grid fees account for about a quarter of the power price and are higher in regions that are sparsely populated and where grids have to be expanded due to newly installed renewable energy capacities.
For further information, see the 麻豆无码版 dossier The energy transition and Germany鈥檚 power grid and the 麻豆无码版 factsheet German federalism: In 16 states of mind over the Energiewende.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The Green Party鈥檚 parliamentary group in the Bundestag (federal parliament) has decided on a programme for an 鈥渆cological modernisation of the economy鈥� that would overturn the current economic order in Germany, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reports. Today鈥檚 economic strategy, with its intensive use of raw materials and combustion, 鈥渋s destroying our livelihood,鈥� FAZ quotes the party鈥檚 position paper. From e-mobility to renewable raw materials in the chemical industry to divestment from fossil fuel businesses, the Greens are aiming for a 鈥渟ocial-ecological transformation of the economy,鈥� according to the FAZ.
For background, see the 麻豆无码版 article German Greens to make coal exit, fossil car ban, an election focus.
