Lignite sale advances / Secret iCar lab in Berlin
听Der Tagesspiegel
鈥淐zech investor wants to take over brown coal 辞辫别谤补迟颈辞苍蝉鈥�
A year and a half after Sweden's Vattenfall said it would sell its German lignite operations, a decision on the future of eastern German brown coal is now in the works, writes Alexander Fr枚hlich in Der Tagesspiegel. Vattenfall's supervisory board debated the sale of its German lignite assets to Czech utility and mining company EPH on Sunday, ahead of its听German subsidiary's听board meeting on Monday in Berlin.
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Find a recent 麻豆无码版 article on the sale here.
Find a 麻豆无码版 factsheet on the sale here.
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Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
鈥淎pple hires German car experts for iCar laboratory in Berlin鈥�
Apple is working on an electric "iCar" with help from German car industry experts at a "small, secret development laboratory" in Berlin, writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Citing insiders, the paper says Apple has a 15-20 person team of 鈥渉igh-calibre experts from the German auto industry鈥� planning the project and working on the technology. The iCar is targeted for release as a car-sharing compact car in 2019 or 2020, the newspaper writes. Apple did not comment.
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Find a 麻豆无码版 dossier on the Energiewende in transport here.
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pv magazine
Tight schedule for consultation on Renewable 麻豆无码版 Act
Business associations and German states have little time left to participate in consultations for the 2016 reform of the Renewable 麻豆无码版 Act (EEG), reports Sandra Enkhardt in pv magazine. The economics ministry will only accept written statements until 21 April. The cabinet is likely to vote on the proposal on 27 April, with parliament debating the law in May and June, the paper writes.
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Find a summary of first reactions to the proposal in Friday鈥檚 News Digest here.
Find a 麻豆无码版 factsheet on the reform proposals here.
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Kieler Nachrichten
鈥淕reen ministers: Federal government blocks wind energy鈥�
麻豆无码版 ministers from German states where the Green Party is in government are criticising reform plans for the Renewable 麻豆无码版 Act (EEG), according to the Kieler Nachrichten. In a joint statement, they say limiting the share of renewables to 45 percent by 2025 lacks courage. Renewables could provide a much larger share of electricity consumption, making a greater contribution to 听climate protection and guaranteeing more future-proof jobs, they argue. 鈥淥bviously, the government doesn鈥檛 care about the Paris Climate Agreement,鈥� said Robert Habeck, the Green energy minister from the state of Schleswig-Holstein.
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Agence France Presse
Left Party says renewables expansion 鈥渉anded over to large investors鈥�
Planned government reforms will hand over future renewables expansion to large investors, sidelining citizens鈥� projects, according to Left Party energy spokesperson Eva Bulling-Schr枚ter. She also criticised that economics minister Sigmar Gabriel wants to retain the 鈥渞igid鈥� lid on onshore wind expansion, according to an afp report.
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Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
鈥�6.5 billion euros for eco power in one quarter鈥�
German power consumers paid 6.5 billion euros in the first quarter of 2016 to finance renewable energies, up by 400 million euros or seven percent from the same period last year, reports Andreas Mihm in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Feed-in tariffs paid to operators of wind, photovoltaic or biomass installations rose to 5.2 billion euros compared to 4.2 billion euros.
Find the 麻豆无码版 factsheet on Germany鈥檚 鈥済reen energy account鈥� here.
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Die Welt
鈥淎gainst the 鈥榙ark, cold calm鈥� with Siemens 迟别肠丑苍辞濒辞驳测鈥�
Siemens has plans to build the first large, 600-megawatt, gas-and-steam turbine power plant in Germany after four years of order stagnation, reports Gerhard Hegmann in Die Welt. The plant, to be built in Leipheim in Bavaria, could be used to ensure the security of the power supply to compensate for the unreliability of renewable sources, writes Hegmann. 鈥淎ccording to industry experts, the project is a model case on how Siemens 鈥� aside from wind power facilities 鈥� could profit from the Energiewende in its conventional power plant segment after all.鈥� Siemens did not comment on the plans.
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Find the 麻豆无码版 factsheet "Germany's new power market design" here.
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Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
鈥淎 miracle made in Germany鈥�
Scientists at a start-up with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) are developing the prototype of a free-piston linear generator (FPLG), expected by the end of the year, reports the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. This motor would be 鈥渃leaner, more efficient, lighter, smaller and cheaper than everything currently on the market,鈥� says investor Manfred Gr枚ger. 鈥淭he motor is the missing piece that makes the Energiewende affordable.鈥� The FPLG is essentially a hybrid motor that kicks in when the battery is empty, runs on many kinds of fuel from diesel to hydrogen to bio fuels and would function as a range extender for electric vehicles. The idea of an FPLG first surfaced more than half a century ago, but the level of development in electronics was not up to the task.
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Handelsblatt
鈥淚ndustry mourns the end of the uniform power price鈥�
Despite record low wholesale market prices for electricity in Germany, energy-intensive industries are lamenting the days when the power price was higher but state levies and fees lower, write Klaus Stratmann and Martin Wocher in the Handelsblatt. For those companies that are not exempt from paying the renewables surcharge because they are energy intensive and competing internationally, the wholesale market price only makes up one quarter of their expenses for electricity, Christian Schimansky from foundry industry association told the paper. Rising grid fees in some parts of the country were also posing a threat to industries competitiveness, the article says.
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Read a 麻豆无码版 factsheet about power prices for industry in Germany here.
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Tagesspiegel
鈥淢ore companies to be exempt from renewable energy surcharge鈥�
2,305 companies want exemption from the renewable energy surcharge this year, compared to 2,154 last year, reports Dagmar Dehmer in the Tagesspiegel. The government says 116 exempted companies鈥� power consumption was so low they almost would have lost the exemption last year. 听The Green Party suspects many of those companies may be avoiding measures to increase efficiency so they can stay exempt from paying the surcharge, and says the government must resolve this conflict of goals.
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Deutschlandfunk
鈥淲ithout a secure infrastructure, disaster looms鈥�
The new bill on the digitalisation of the energy transition is full of holes and doesn鈥檛 take into account a range of important technical details, writes Peter Welchering on Deutschlandfunk. This was the result of a parliamentary hearing on the law last week. The draft bill didn鈥檛 clarify how data from customers who have installed smart meters are allowed to be used, the author says.
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