SolarWorld insolvency/ Zero-support offshore bid ārisky and braveā
SolarWorld AG / Reuters
Europeās former biggest PV panel producer SolarWorld will file for insolvency, the company said in a press release. āDue to the ongoing price erosion and the development of the business,ā SolarWorld is now āover-indebtedā and lacks a positive prognosis, the press release reads. The company is now looking at whether a similar move is necessary for affiliated companies, it adds.
SolarWorld was finallyĀ overwhelmed by Chinese competitors, Christoph Steitz reports for news agency Reuters. After narrowly avoiding insolvency at the turn of the decade, āa renewed wave of cheap Chinese exports (ā¦) was too much to bear for the group,ā Steitz says. CEO Frank Asbeck, known as āthe Sun King,āĀ said SolarWorld had long āled the fight against illegal price dumpingā but eventually succumbed to it, in what Asbeck described as āa bitter stepā for Germanyās solar industry, the article says.
Read the press release in English and the article in English .
Please note: Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę will publish an article on SolarWorld's insolvency and the effect on Germany's PV industry later today.
Die Welt
The insolvency of former German PV champion SolarWorld is first and foremost down to CEO Frank Asbeckās inability to find an appropriate business strategy to react to cheap Chinese competition, Daniel Wetzel writes in Die Welt. Most European PV companies ārealised many years ago that it does not make sense to try to compete with gigantic Chinese production capacitiesā and instead opted toĀ specialise in high-end niche products and innovation, Wetzel says. Asbeckās company, however, resorted to political lobbying, which could only stem the pressure from Chinese imports for so long, he argues.
Read the article in German .
Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę
Michael Liebreich,Ā founder of renewable energy research organisation Bloomberg New Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę Finance (BNEF), has called the zero-support bid in German offshore wind power auctions āa risky and brave move.ā Successful bidders EnBW and Dong Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę were betting on a substantial capacity increase of the turbines and higher power prices, Liebreich said at a press briefing by think tanks Agora Energiewende and Agora Verkehrswende* in Berlin. Liebreich praised Germanyās fixed feed-in tariff policy for getting renewable energy generation off the ground but said the support scheme was ānot economically efficient.ā Reverse auctions were therefore necessary to āget cheap energy into the hands of users.ā Financial support should eventually be dropped altogether to stabilise prices, and policy makers should insteadĀ āfocus on shutting down dirty energy sourcesā, he said.
See the Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę factsheet Germany ponders how to finance renewables expansion in the future for background.
*Like the Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę, Agora Energiewende and are projects funded by Stiftung Mercator and the European Climate Foundation.
Reuters
E.ON chief executive Johannes Teyssen plans a quick sale of the group's remaining stake in fossil fuel spin-off Uniper, Christoph Steitz and Tom KƤckenhoff report for Reuters. Speaking at the companyās annual general meeting, Teyssen saidĀ the sale would recover part of the losses Uniper triggered at E.ON. E.ONās shareholders had to swallow a 16 billion euro annual net loss for 2016, one of the largest in German corporate history.
Read the story in English .
For background, read the Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę factsheet E.ON shareholders ratify energy giantās split.
Handelsblatt
Partial diesel bans aimed at improving local air quality are possible in most of Germanyās 20 largest cities, according to a survey by business daily Handelsblatt. 13 cities told the paper they would consider such bans, five said they were undecided and three said they were against bans. āDaimler, BMW and the VW Group are under enormous pressure. The discussion about driving bans unsettles their customers,ā the double page report says.
Read the report in German (behind paywall) .
For background read the Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers.
Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę
The federal economy ministry (BMWi) has made available an English version of last yearās Fifth Energiewende Monitoring Report, together with the accompanying expert statement.
Find the report in English , the expert statement in English and an explanation of the monitoring process in English .
Also read the Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę article on the report: Experts call for CO2 price to retain Energiewendeās credibility.
City of Berlin
Berlin will end coal-fired energy generation by 2030, the city's government, the Senat, said in a press release. The city will stop using lignite by the end of 2017. A corresponding draft law will now be introduced in the cityās parliament. Berlin currently has six plants using coal as a main or secondary fuel for power and heat generation.
Read the press release in German .
For background read the Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę factsheet When will Germany finally ditch coal?
energy post
Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę expert Jeffrey Michel provides an overview of lignite use in Germany in an article for energy post. Among other things, he suggests divestment strategies could have minimal or negative effects on German lignite policy, jobs, structural change and the environment.
Read the article in English .
For background read the Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę factsheet When will Germany finally ditch coal?
