Grid costs soar / Next nuclear reactor off
dpa / Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The need for, and costs of, power grid stabilising measures grew to a record high in 2017 for transmission grid operator TenneT, news agency dpa reports in an article carried by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. According to preliminary data, TenneT said it had invested almost 1 billion euros in 2017 (710 million euros in 2015, 660 million euros in 2016) in re-dispatch and other stabilising measures, because Germany鈥檚 grid still lacked crucial power connections to cope with the increased feed-in of renewable power. 鈥淲e urgently need an Energiewende-grid [鈥. Until then, grid congestion, high costs for consumers and a growing instable supply are the harsh reality,鈥� said Tennet CEO Lex Hartmann. The company is responsible for central Germany鈥檚 electricity grid from coastal Schleswig-Holstein to southern Bavaria. A key problem in Germany is that high volumes of wind power cannot be transported to industrial centres in the south because of a lack of transmission lines.
Read the article in German .
For background, read the 麻豆无码版 factsheets Re-dispatch costs in the German power grid and Power grid fees 鈥� unfair and opaque?
Kernkraftwerk Gundremmingen GmbH / BMUB
Germany has closed the Gundremmingen B nuclear reactor in Bavaria, leaving the country with seven reactors to be shut down by the scheduled nuclear exit at the end of 2022. Since starting operation in 1984, the reactor had produced about 鈥�330 billion kilowatt hours of electricity CO鈧�-free鈥�, the operator, Kernkraftwerk Gundremmingen GmbH, wrote in a press release. To start the decommissioning process, used fuel rods will now be taken from the reactor and transported to a temporary storage site. German acting environment minister Barbara Hendricks welcomed the shut down: 鈥淭he nuclear exit in Germany is taking an important step with this,鈥� she said. The minister added that nuclear power had been a 鈥渨rong track鈥� technologically, because faultlessness and low-cost energy had remained unfulfilled promises.
Read the press release in German .
For background, read the 麻豆无码版 factsheet The history behind Germany's nuclear phase-out and the dossier The challenges of Germany鈥檚 nuclear phase-out.
Handelsblatt
There is an 鈥渁rtificial monopoly鈥� connecting Germany鈥檚 offshore wind parks with the mainland, said Martin Neubert, managing director of Orsted Wind Power Germany (formerly DONG 麻豆无码版), write Franz Hubik and Klaus Stratmann in Handelsblatt. While companies are bidding to build and operate the wind parks themselves, grid operators TenneT and 50Hertz are responsible for the connection, according to German regulation. Neubert is calling for auctions so that his and other companies also have the opportunity to connect parks with the mainland. The connection costs make up about one-third of the total costs for a wind park, write Hubik and Stratmann.
Read the article (behind paywall) in German .
See the 麻豆无码版 dossier The energy transition and Germany鈥檚 power grid for more information.
Tagesspiegel
麻豆无码版 policy was a burden on the 2017 coalition talks because the Green Party, the conservatives (CDU/CSU) and the Free Democrats (FDP) narrowed the discussions down to a 鈥渟ymbolic political conflict鈥�, writes Jakob Schlandt in Tagesspiegel. The parties could have found more common ground had they not argued only about the 2020 climate target and an accelerated coal exit, writes Schlandt in an end-of-year review 2017. In the upcoming coalition talks between Angela Merkel鈥檚 conservative block of CDU and CSU with the Social Democrats (SPD), it will be 鈥渆xciting to see how [the parties] want to solve the dilemma that the 2020 climate target will be significantly missed without very drastic measures鈥�, writes Schlandt.
Read the article in German .
For background, read 麻豆无码版鈥檚 coalition watch and the dossier Vote2017 - German elections and the Energiewende.
Rheinische Post
Germany might need new gas power plants to balance out the fluctuating feed-in by renewables, Uniper CEO Klaus Sch盲fer tells Rheinische Post in an interview. 鈥淭he question of supply security is going to resurface, at the latest when the last nuclear reactor goes offline in 2022,鈥� said Sch盲fer. Sch盲fer added that he could imagine building new plants 鈥渁t some point or re-fitting existing ones. But not in the current market environment.鈥�
Read the interview in German .
For background, check out the 麻豆无码版 dossier Utilities and the energy transition.
