Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear energy is rooted in a complex interplay of historical, political, environmental, and social factors, with profound implications for its energy market, climate ambitions, and energy security.

The move was catalyzed by the Fukushima disaster in 2011, which galvanized public opposition to nuclear power and led to a political consensus—especially among the Greens and Social Democrats—to shut down all nuclear power plants by the end of 2022, a policy implemented under Chancellor Angela Merkel .

The phaseout was framed as a moral imperative to ensure safety, reduce radioactive waste, and protect the environment .

Before the phaseout, nuclear energy contributed about 10-13% of Germany’s electricity production, making it a significant component of the national grid .

The closure of the last three nuclear plants in April 2023 marked the end of over 60 years of nuclear power generation in Germany .

This decision was closely tied to Germany’s broader Energiewende (energy transition) strategy, which aims for carbon neutrality by 2045 and a dramatic increase in renewable energy’s share of the electricity mix .

The immediate consequence of the nuclear phaseout has been a significant restructuring of the German energy grid.

Nuclear power’s removal created a supply gap that has been partially filled by renewables, which now account for approximately 41% of the energy mix, but also by increased reliance on coal (28%) and natural gas (15%) as of 2021 .

This shift has complicated Germany’s climate goals, as coal and gas are more polluting than nuclear, leading to higher carbon emissions and an estimated $12 billion annually in social costs from air pollution .

Despite a 10.1% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in 2023, largely due to renewable expansion, challenges persist in sectors like transport and in maintaining grid stability .

The loss of nuclear capacity has also introduced volatility and risk into the energy market.

High energy prices, exacerbated by the need to import more expensive fossil fuels, have threatened Germany’s industrial competitiveness.

The Federation of German Industries reported that one in three manufacturers is considering relocating production abroad due to high energy costs and uncertainty about long-term supply .

Energy prices in Germany are significantly higher than in the US, and the government has explored subsidies and price caps to mitigate the impact on consumers and businesses .

The Russian-Ukrainian war has dramatically intensified these challenges.

Prior to the conflict, Germany depended on Russia for about 55% of its natural gas imports, a vulnerability that became acute when Russian gas flows dropped to about a fifth of pre-war levels .

The war and subsequent sanctions forced Germany to urgently diversify its energy sources, leading to emergency measures such as reactivating coal-fired power plants, seizing Russian-owned oil refineries, and urging citizens to conserve energy .

The government also temporarily extended the operational life of the last three nuclear reactors until April 2023 to ensure energy security during critical winter months .

The energy crisis triggered by the war has had severe economic consequences.

Germany reported its first trade deficit since 1991 in May 2022, largely due to surging energy import prices .

The manufacturing sector, long reliant on cheap Russian gas, has faced competitiveness challenges, with some companies considering relocating production to countries with lower energy costs .

Economic Minister Robert Habeck warned of a potential "Lehman Brothers effect" in the energy market if gas supplies dwindle further, underscoring the risk of widespread economic disruption .

In response to these pressures, Germany has accelerated its transition to renewables, aiming for 80% of electricity from renewables by 2030 and full renewable supply by 2035 .

The government is investing heavily in solar, wind, and hydrogen infrastructure, including billions for hydrogen-fired power plants as part of its strategy to phase out coal .

Germany is also increasing its liquefied natural gas (LNG) import capacity, with plans to boost imports from countries like Qatar by 2026 .

International partnerships, such as with South Africa for renewable and green hydrogen projects, reflect a broader strategy to diversify energy sources and enhance security .

However, the transition is not without obstacles.

Bureaucratic hurdles and local opposition, particularly to onshore wind projects, slow the expansion of renewables .

The need for substantial upfront infrastructure investments and ongoing volatility in energy prices due to global market conditions further complicate the transition .

Energy storage technologies have become increasingly important in this context.

As Germany phases out nuclear and coal, energy storage systems—especially battery energy storage—are critical for balancing the intermittency of renewables and ensuring grid stability .

Battery storage could reduce the need for 9 GW of gas-fired capacity, saving billions in construction costs and lowering CO2 emissions .

The residential energy storage market is rapidly growing, with Germany accounting for 34% of the global market in 2023 and an expected annual growth rate exceeding 15% .

The government’s Kraftwerksstrategie includes a technology-independent capacity market to incentivize controllable generators and storage systems, supporting a fully renewable electricity system .

Public and political sentiment regarding nuclear energy has shifted notably during the energy crisis.

While the Green Party and much of the government remain firmly opposed to nuclear power, citing safety and waste disposal concerns , public opinion has become more favorable.

A spring 2022 poll found that 65% of Germans viewed nuclear power as essential for achieving EU climate goals .

This growing support is driven by concerns over energy shortages and soaring prices following the reduction of Russian gas supplies.

There is a generational divide, with younger climate activists more open to nuclear as a low-carbon solution, while older generations remain skeptical due to historical nuclear disasters .

Political debates have intensified, with some factions and public figures advocating for reactivating or extending the life of nuclear reactors to ensure energy security and stabilize prices .

However, the ruling coalition remains divided, and the Green Party’s opposition has so far prevented a reversal of the phaseout .

The government’s stance has also caused tensions within the EU, as Germany opposes including nuclear energy in the EU’s sustainable finance taxonomy, in contrast to countries like France that rely heavily on nuclear power .

The energy crisis has also highlighted the importance of public-private partnerships in accelerating the renewable transition.

Collaborations between government and private companies are driving investments in wind, solar, and green hydrogen projects .

The government has simplified permitting procedures for onshore wind and supports vocational training programs to build a skilled renewable energy workforce .

However, transmission system operators like TenneT face financial challenges adapting to the renewable grid, prompting discussions with the government about structural solutions .

In summary, Germany’s move away from nuclear energy was driven by safety concerns, public opposition, and a commitment to carbon neutrality.

The loss of nuclear power has increased reliance on coal and gas, complicating climate goals and exposing vulnerabilities in energy security, especially amid the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The crisis has led to emergency measures, economic challenges, and a

Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear energy is rooted in a complex interplay of historical, political, environmental, and social factors, with profound implications for its energy market, climate ambitions, and energy security.

Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear energy is rooted in a complex interplay of historical, political, environmental, and social factors, with profound implications for its energy market, climate ambitions, and energy security.

Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear energy is rooted in a complex interplay of historical, political, environmental, and social factors, with profound implications for its energy market, climate ambitions, and energy security.

The move was catalyzed by the Fukushima disaster in 2011, which galvanized public opposition to nuclear power and led to a political consensus—especially among the Greens and Social Democrats—to shut down all nuclear power plants by the end of 2022, a policy implemented under Chancellor Angela Merkel .

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Germany Achieves 10% Reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions, On Track for 2030 Climate Goals

Germany achieves a 10.1% cut in greenhouse gas emissions in 2023, marking significant progress in its journey towards environmental sustainability.

Nimrah Khatoon
New Update

Germany marked a significant milestone in its environmental efforts, reporting a 10.1% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions in 2023, as confirmed by official data. Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, doubling as the economy and climate minister, announced that with about 673 million tons of greenhouse gases emitted last year, Germany is poised to meet its ambitious 2030 target of reducing emissions by 65% relative to 1990 levels. This progress is attributed to the robust expansion of renewable energy sources and a strategic move away from coal and gas, despite the economic challenges faced by businesses and consumers.

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Strategic Expansion of Renewable Energy

The Federal Environmental Agency highlighted the country's "very successful expansion of renewable energies" as a pivotal factor in the emission reduction. Germany's focused efforts on solar and wind power and other renewable sources have not only contributed to the decline in emissions but also positioned the country as a leader in renewable energy adoption. However, the agency also pointed out that more efforts are needed, especially in the transport sector, to continue this positive trend.

Challenges and Projections

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The ministry led by Habeck noted that while projections for the coming years are promising, showing a potential decline in emissions by nearly 64% by 2030 compared with 1990, challenges remain. The transport sector, in particular, requires significant advancements in electric mobility and a reevaluation of subsidies. The country's economic performance, impacted by high energy prices and global economic instability, underscores the need for continued dedication to environmental goals amidst adversity.

Looking Forward

Germany's commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2045 remains steadfast, with renewable energy playing a crucial role in this journey. The nation's progress, including the notable decline in greenhouse gas emissions in 2023, serves as a testament to its capacity for green transformation. As Germany continues on this path, the global community watches closely, recognizing the potential ripple effect of its actions on international climate policy and the broader fight against climate change.

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The phaseout was framed as a moral imperative to ensure safety, reduce radioactive waste, and protect the environment .

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Content: Germany to curb energy use over ‘serious’ gas situation

·2 min read

Germany will curb domestic energy consumption and boost stockpiles, as it ramps up efforts to stem a winter fuel supply crisis.

Europe’s biggest economy will increase gas stockpiles and aim to cut down on the use of energy by its dominant industrial sector, economic minister Robert Habeck said in a statement on Sunday.

“Security of supply is currently guaranteed. But the situation is serious,” he added.

“Gas consumption must fall further, and in return more gas must be put into the storage facilities, otherwise things will really get tight in the winter.”

Alarm has grown over the prospect of the continent’s fuel reserves running out after Russia last week cut flows through the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany by 60pc, as part of an escalating pressure campaign by Vladimir Putin.

Prior to the war in Ukraine, Russia supplied Germany with just under a third of its gas.

"The tense situation and the high prices are a direct consequence of Putin's war of aggression on Ukraine," Mr Habeck said.

"What's more, it is obviously Putin's strategy to make us insecure, to drive up prices, and to divide us. We will not let that happen. We will fight back decisively, precisely and thoughtfully."

Analysts at Wood Mackenzie, an oil and gas consultancy, have predicted Europe could run out of gas supplies by January if the Kremlin turns off the taps.

The European Union is already pressing ahead with plans to ban the import of seaborne Russian oil, which would leave the continent scrambling to find new sources.

Mr Habeck, a minister for the Greens party, said Germany will be forced to rely more on coal-fired power plants as it tries to weather the current energy crisis.

A bill to allow plants to continue operating will be discussed in the upper house of Germany’s parliament in early July, and is expected to quickly enter law afterwards.

“That means, we have to be that honest, more coal-fired power plants then for a transitional period,” Mr Habeck said.

“That’s bitter, but it’s simply necessary in this situation to reduce gas consumption. We must and we will do everything we can to store as much gas as possible in the summer and fall.”

In an interview on Saturday, Siegfried Russwurm, president of Germany’s BDI lobby group, said Germany needed to get coal-fired plants out of reserve “immediately”.

A new auction system will be introduced to encourage industrial companies to save fuel, which can then be transferred to storage.

A German government source told Reuters the support would also include €15bn (£12.8bn) of support for the country’s gas market operator to fill storage facilities more quickly.

The German government is prepared to take further action if needed, Mr Habeck added.

Before the phaseout, nuclear energy contributed about 10-13% of Germany’s electricity production, making it a significant component of the national grid .

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Content: Industry Voice: Energy independence drive could impact renewables adoption

• 6 min read

The devastating war in Ukraine has dramatically increased the need for energy independence in the European Union, which today announced a plan to reduce its reliance on Russian gas. This will require more use of fossil fuels in the short term, but long-term should accelerate the switch to renewables.

Amidst the horrifying war in Ukraine and the likely escalation of sanctions, European governments are rushing to find ways to reduce their dependence on Russian gas, through reopening or delaying closure of coal plants in Europe, and finding other sources of gas. Near-term, emissions and costs will rise as a result.

Simultaneously, countries and companies are looking for ways to mitigate their exposure to higher oil and gas prices through greater efficiency, more use of lower-cost alternatives such as renewables and investment in nuclear.

‘The wind and sun belong to no one' German economy minister and Green Party member Robert Habeck noted recently.

The International Energy Agency last week launched a 10-point plan on how to reduce reliance on Russian gas, advocating measures such as rerouting to other gas suppliers, increasing gas storage, accelerating wind and solar development, maximising existing generation from bioenergy and nuclear power, and speeding up the rollout of heat pumps to replace gas boilers. And today, the EU announced a plan for achieving energy independence "well before 2030" through greater use of LNG and energy storage, and swifter adoption of renewables.

In the long term, therefore, we expect the increased emphasis on energy independence, in addition to the structural move towards ‘net zero', to accelerate the energy transition.

Emissions likely to rise in the near term

In the short term, the push for independence will generate higher emissions given the EU's current energy mix (see chart 1). The EU relies on Russia for 40 per cent of its gas (90 per cent of all its gas is imported). The supply gap cannot be entirely filled by switching to alternative gas providers, and it takes time to build wind and solar plants. So it will have to consider other fossil fuels.

Germany, for example, has announced that it could delay the planned closure of some coal-fired plants and even consider extending the life of nuclear plants, though legal and technical impediments may make this impossible. Germany decided to phase out its nuclear capacity in 2011, following the Fukushima disaster - a decision that made the country more reliant on Russian gas.

In Italy, meanwhile, Prime Minister Mario Draghi has said the country would consider re-opening coal plants, and is seeking to increase domestic gas production, which had fallen in recent years. Enel, Italy's biggest utility, has been closing coal-fired plants in line with its targets for a complete exit from coal by 2027, and has so far not revealed any plans to re-open coal. We engaged with the company last week and it remains committed to its long-term goals for decarbonisation while acknowledging the near-term uncertainty. It has also announced that it will change plans to convert two coal-fired plants to gas, and will instead explore the possibility of re-purposing them into renewable energy storage infrastructure.

European utilities generally are likely to increase energy storage for both gas and renewables as well as sourcing more gas from North Africa and the Middle East.

Accelerating renewables to achieve independence and net zero

As well as seeking alternative sources of fossil fuels, European countries have signalled long-term plans to accelerate the move towards net zero.

Germany, which previously had a net zero target of 2040, has now brought this forward to 2035, and believes it can achieve 80 per cent of its target by 2030. German climate minister Oliver Krischer tweeted about the change as a way to stand with Ukraine. Other European countries have indicated similar intentions, though so far, no others have re-stated their net zero target.

At the time of writing, there has been little actual disruption of oil and gas supply to Europe. However, countries are positioning themselves for that eventuality and prices have risen significantly as a result. This provides further incentive to switch to lower-cost power.

Over recent years, the building and operational cost of renewable technology has fallen significantly, making an acceleration of net zero targets financially feasible. The cost of solar energy, for example, has fallen by around 80 per cent in the last 10 years. An increase in investment and the application of engineering expertise in highly skilled economies like Germany could drive costs down further. Planning approval processes could also be expedited to reflect the urgency of the geopolitical and environmental need.

Obstacles remain

That said, the prices of mainstream commodities needed for the transition (such as steel and aluminium) were already rising prior to the invasion of Ukraine on the back of high demand post Covid-19, and have risen even further in the last few weeks.

Rare metals needed for electric motors, photovoltaic cells and batteries could be particularly sensitive to price squeezes as production is concentrated within two countries - Russia and China. Retaining access to these key supply chains will be critical to a successful transition to renewables.

Intermittency, meanwhile, remains an issue. The irregular output of wind and solar assets means significant advances in storage technologies will be necessary to drive universal adoption.

Following the Ukraine invasion, markets are beginning to reflect this increased need. For example, recent moves in share prices of hydrogen electrolysis stocks suggest some investors now believe this technology, as yet unproven at scale, will one day provide part of the answer.

As the war continues to unfold in Ukraine, the benefits of moving away from an energy system dependent on imported fossil fuels have become even clearer. While there are still challenges ahead for the transition, we can hope that in the not-too-distant future, Europe's energy grid will be both cleaner and more self-sufficient.

This post is funded by Fidelity International

Important information

This information is for investment professionals only and should not be relied upon by private investors. The value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up and you may not get back the amount invested.  Investors should note that the views expressed may no longer be current and may have already been acted upon. Changes in currency exchange rates may affect the value of investments in overseas markets. Investments in emerging markets can be more volatile than other more developed markets. A focus on securities of companies which maintain strong environmental, social and governance ("ESG") credentials may result in a return that at times compares unfavourably to similar products without such focus. Reference to specific securities should not be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell these securities and is included for illustration purposes only. Issued by FIL Pensions Management, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Financial Administration Services Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Fidelity International, the Fidelity International logo and F symbol are trademarks of FIL Limited. UKM0322/370541/SSO/NA

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November 2022
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The energy debate is ripping Germany’s coalition apart

All parties are pursuing their own ideological agenda
by Ralph Schoellhammer
A banner depicting Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Climate minister Robert Habeck

The Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter once wrote that “the first thing a man will do for his ideals is lie.” No sentence is a better embodiment of the ongoing farce around the continuation of Germany’s remaining three nuclear power plants.

Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine there has been a debate as to whether Berlin should postpone the 2011 plan to exit nuclear energy, a power source that in 2021 was still providing around 13% of Germany’s electricity. Even the Green Party, with its general suspicion towards everything that is not wind or solar powered, felt it necessary to at least commission a study regarding the feasibility of keeping nuclear power online.

Or so it seemed. New documents uncovered by a German newspaper have revealed that in early March Vice-Chancellor and Minister for Economic Affairs Robert Habeck apparently issued an examination of the country’s nuclear power plants without even talking to its operators.

As some have suspected from the beginning, there never was a real interest in an objective assessment, but rather a desire to preemptively end the debate. After continued warnings of a worsening energy crunch, including the possibility of rolling blackouts, an agreement was reached to extend the lifetime of two nuclear power plants until April 2023. Nonetheless, the Green fibbing on the issue is deepening a rift in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government.

The smallest member of Germany’s three-party coalition is increasingly worried that being part of a government with strong Left-leaning tendencies could be electoral suicide. In the state elections of Lower Saxony on 9th October, the FDP fell short of the 5% electoral threshold and will no longer be represented in the regional parliament, an ominous sign for a party represented in the federal government. In the 2013 general election they were ousted from the Bundestag, having been in a coalition government with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats since 2009.

Understandably, many in the party fear a repeat of history, forcing leader Christian Lindner to sharpen its profile and make the FDP a louder voice in the public discourse. In a move that caught both the Greens and the Social Democrats by surprise, Lindner announced his support for an immediate beginning of fracking on German soil, a topic that has been a perennial taboo across the political divide.

While it seems unlikely to happen anytime soon, it has become clear that Germany is increasingly governed by a coalition in name only, where every party is pushing its own ideological agenda. Even Chancellor Scholz has no problem ignoring his partners on significant matters. Just a few days ago he rammed through the sale of 25% of one of Hamburg harbour’s port terminals to the Chinese state-owned COSCO shipping conglomerate. This went against the advice of his own ministries and the European Commission

As happens with most increasingly dysfunctional coalitions, the only common ground can be found in an expansion of public spending. In Germany’s case this would be the massive promise to pump up to 5% of its GDP, or €200bn, into the economy in order to soften the fallout from rising energy prices. This doesn’t bode well for German stability, seeing as recent polls show that the government has already lost its majority.

Officially, new federal elections are not supposed to take place before the autumn of 2025. Given growing tensions within the government and the worsening economic outlook for 2023, though, one should prepare for the possibility of a new election much sooner.

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Germany: Protesters Took To Streets In Berlin Seeking Govt's Disassociation In Ukraine War

German demonstrators came to the streets in the nation's capital Berlin, demanding the German government stay out of the conflict in Ukraine.

Image: AP

Amid the ongoing Moscow-Kyiv war in Eastern Europe, German demonstrators came to the streets in the nation's capital Berlin, demanding the German government stay out of the conflict in Ukraine. According to The Guardian report, protests emerged in Germany at a time when the nation has been offering support and solidarity to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia by supplying billions in military aid and powerful weaponry.

Furthermore, earlier in the month of June, Germany promised to give war-torn Ukraine some of the most cutting-edge armaments to help it fight off the Russian invasion. Germany has pledged to give Ukraine modern "anti-air missile" and "radar systems." The IRIS-T air defence system would be shipped to Ukraine, according to a report from the Associated Press, making it the first long-range air defence equipment given to the Zelenskyy administration since the war started on February 24.

It is also important to note that the German military's past deliveries of shoulder-fired, portable air defence missiles have improved the Ukrainian military's ability to shoot down helicopters and other low-flying aircraft, but not sufficiently to threaten Russia's air superiority.

In addition, Germany has committed to providing Ukraine with roughly 15 "Gepard tanks" to aid in the conflict with Russian troops. According to media reports, the Gepard tanks would be equipped with "adequate" ammo. Germany has also started training Ukrainian troops and has given Kyiv seven self-propelled howitzers.

Gas shortage in Germany

Meanwhile, out of concern that Russia would cut off the natural gas supply, the director of Germany's energy regulatory body has recently urged citizens to save energy and get ready for winter, when demand increases. Klaus Mueller, president of the Federal Network Agency, advised owners and renters to get their gas boilers and radiators inspected and adjusted to maximise their efficiency, Associated Press reported.

Mueller told Funke Mediengruppe, a German publisher of newspapers and magazines, that maintenance may lower gas use by 10% to 15%.

This request has been made after Russia cut off gas supplies to Germany, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia earlier this month, as nations in the European Union rushed to restock storage tanks with the fuel needed to produce electricity, run industries, and heat homes in the winter.

A technical issue was to blame for the decrease in natural gas flowing via Nord Stream 1, a pipeline that crosses the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, according to state-owned energy corporation Gazprom in Russia.

In addition to this, in June, Robert Habeck, the German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection stated that the country had planned to take extra steps in response to a decline in the Russian gas supply. A five-page document detailing the German government's intention to lessen its reliance on Russian gas was made public, citing DPA, DW reported. The German government will set aside billions of dollars for its anticipated actions to cut back on the import of gas from Moscow.

(Image: AP)

First Published:

The closure of the last three nuclear plants in April 2023 marked the end of over 60 years of nuclear power generation in Germany .

Title:

Content: 11 Feb, 2024 13:59

German industry ‘moving abroad’ – Bild

A growing number of manufacturers are relocating operations outside the country, an industry lobby warns

One in three German manufacturers is considering moving production to other countries amid economic troubles, double the number recorded in 2022, Bild news outlet reported on Saturday, citing Siegfried Russwurm, the head of the Federation of German Industries (BDI).

According to the report, among the latest firms planning to relocate is household appliance manufacturer Miele, which plans to cut 2,000 jobs in Germany and move 700 positions to its site in Poland. Heating manufacturer Viessmann had already moved 3,000 jobs to Poland.

Volkswagen said last year that it would build a new battery factory in the US, and BASF announced plans to invest €10 billion in a petrochemicals plant in China amid job cuts at its headquarters in Germany. French steel pipe manufacturer Vallourec shut down production in Germany in September last year, while tiremaker Michelin and its US rival Goodyear said they would also close their German plants by the end of 2025.

Russwurm says that a growing number of companies have reported that their “patience with Germany is at an end.” According to him, the slowdown in economic growth and high rates of inflation, especially with regard to energy, have resulted in less investment, and Berlin lacks a strategy to turn the situation around. This in turn leads to a gradual decline in manufacturing, he said, and while existing production lines may continue to operate for a while, “new ones are no longer being built in Germany.”

Many companies point to the high energy prices, which soared after Germany lost access to Russian natural gas in 2022, as one of the major causes of their problems. This was exacerbated by Berlin’s decision to phase out nuclear energy and coal and switch to renewables, which, according to Russwurm, put manufacturers working in Germany at a significant disadvantage compared to other industrialized nations.

“Nobody can say with any certainty today what our energy supply will look like in seven years’ time, and that’s why no one can say how high energy prices will be in Germany then. For companies that have to make investment decisions, that is absolutely toxic,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times earlier this week, adding that the government is making mistakes regarding its energy policy with its ambitious climate agenda, which aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 and switch 80% of power output to wind and solar energy by 2030.

“Companies are saying they are finding it increasingly difficult to do any long-term planning. They have great doubts about continuing to invest in Germany under these conditions. The conditions are better elsewhere. And they’re going abroad,” Russwurm said.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section

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Content: Germany's HH2E, brown coal firm Leag agree on green hydrogen cooperation

FRANKFURT, Feb 3 (Reuters) - German energy firm HH2E and brown coal miner and power generator Leag plan to cooperate on green hydrogen plants at sites in the eastern German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg, the companies said on Friday.

Germany is aiming to make emissions-free hydrogen a crucial part of the energy sector by 2030, although disruption of gas supplies following Russia's invasion of Ukraine has forced the country to resort to polluting forms of energy in the short term, while pursuing renewable fuel as a longer term goal.

The two companies said they will create a value chain from producing green hydrogen from renewable energy to transporting and commercialising its use.

Leag, based in eastern Germany's Lusatia region and owned by Czech investor EPH and private equity group PPF Investments, aims to bring 7 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind power plants online by 2030.

HH2E co-founder Andreas Schierenbeck said the company, which plans to install 4 GW of electrolysis capacity to get access to renewable power.

The electrolysers pass renewably-produced electricity through water to split it into hydrogen and oxygen.

Last week, HH2E announced plans for a second major plant.

Green hydrogen releases energy without making carbon dioxide, meaning it can be used as an emissions-free source of energy.

Hydrogen sceptics, however, say the new industry could serve to artificially prolong the life of fossil fuel incumbents instead of giving new players a chance.

Some critics also say it is uncertain whether the costs of the new infrastructure will become competitive and whether enough renewable power will be available to make green hydrogen. (Reporting by Vera Eckert, editing by Miranda Murray and Louise Heavens)

Germany's HH2E, brown coal firm Leag agree on green...

This decision was closely tied to Germany’s broader Energiewende (energy transition) strategy, which aims for carbon neutrality by 2045 and a dramatic increase in renewable energy’s share of the electricity mix .

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Content: Three nuclear-fired power plants will be taken off the grid in Germany on Friday as part of the country's plan to end atomic power.

"The nuclear phaseout makes our country safer and helps to avoid radioactive waste," said Federal Environment and Nuclear Safety Minister Steffi Lemke.

"It is now essential to ... advance the search for a final repository for high-level radioactive waste as well as permanent solutions for low- and medium-level radioactive waste," the environment ministry said.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel speeded up the phaseout following the 2011 Fukushima accident in Japan.

Friday's shutdown affects power plants in Brokdorf in Schleswig-Holstein, Grohnde in Lower Saxony and Gundremmingen C in Bavaria.

Germany's remaining three nuclear plants — Emsland in Lower Saxony, Isar 2 in Bavaria and Neckarwestheim 2 in Baden-Württemberg — will be closed by the end of 2022 "at the latest," the environment ministry said.

"Since 2011, Germany has been drawing a line under a highly problematic technology in an orderly, reliable process," Lemke said.

Nuclear accounts for about 10 percent of Germany's electricity production. The shutdown has sparked criticism as Germany will have to dramatically ramp up renewable energy and has also increased its reliance on highly polluting coal-fired power.

"Security of supply in Germany continues to be guaranteed," said Robert Habeck, federal climate and economy minister. He added that reliable and "sustainably generated electricity" is a "central requirement for aligning our economy and industry toward climate neutrality."

That stance puts Berlin at loggerheads with France, where nuclear is the largest element of its energy mix (and also helps supply Germany).

EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said in September that existing nuclear plants, which provide low-carbon electricity essential to the green transition, can be kept running "for two, five, 10 years," adding: "Why deprive ourselves of this production capacity?"

France is planning to scale down the share of nuclear in its electricity mix from 75 percent to 50 percent by 2035, but President Emmanuel Macron said in November that France "will restart the construction of nuclear reactors" while "continuing to develop renewable energies."

Macron also said France will invest €1 billion into research and development, notably into small modular reactors.

Belgium recently decided to shut down all its nuclear power plants by 2025, but plans to invest €100 million in new generation nuclear reactors and research.

More from ... Louise Guillot

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Content: (Bloomberg) --

Nuclear energy is having a moment. Europe recently moved to issue green bonds for the power source, and Germany signaled that it may scrap plans to shut nuclear facilities given the country’s energy crunch. Silicon Valley is also embracing nuclear fusion, an unproven technology that promises abundant, cheap and clean energy in the not-too-distant future.

The new US Senate climate pact includes federal funding and incentives for fusion, building on last year’s surge of financing. Now, companies are getting in on the sector, plowing even more money into ventures that are taking the most difficult paths to make fusion’s promise a reality.

Last month, TAE Technologies Inc., a nuclear fusion company in southern California, raised $250 million. Industry watchers describe the company’s approach, which requires creating a fusion reaction in incredibly high heat, as perhaps the biggest scientific gamble in the field.

The company’s latest financing didn’t come primarily from venture capitalists or technology luminaries, the normal backers of these grand science experiments. Chevron Corp.’s venture arm invested, Google cut a check from its treasury department and Sumitomo Corp., a Japanese trading company, made its first investment in the sector with a pledge to bring TAE’s system to Asia.

Michl Binderbauer, TAE’s chief executive officer, says more corporate partnerships are coming after his company demonstrated a key breakthrough in constructing viable reactors. TAE’s plan is to deliver power to energy grids by 2030, bringing “broader commercialization” in the next decade. “We’re in striking distance of what the machine needs to do,” says Binderbauer.

Private investors poured a record $3.4 billion into fusion last year, according to research firm Pitchbook. Billionaires like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos have joined rounds backing dozens of new ventures in the sector. (Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen financed TAE). These companies take slightly different approaches to long-shot fusion process but have a similar thirst for funds. TAE has raised $1.2 billion since it was founded in 1998, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a Boston upstart, raised $1.8 billion last year alone, while Helion Energy completed a $500 million round in 2021.

Chris Gadomski, an energy analyst with BloombergNEF, expects overall fusion funding this year to exceed $1 billion, despite a broader pullback in investing. The sources of that money tell a story about the industry. When there is a large showing of wealthy solo investors, “it doesn’t matter if they lose a billion dollars,” he says. “When you see other companies coming into the marketplace, that tells me that there’s much closer scrutiny going on, and it’s becoming closer to reality.”

A Sumitomo spokesperson said its investment is part of a plan to develop an “ecosystem” around fusion, “ultimately expanding its capabilities in the power production business.” Chevron said it sees fusion as “a promising low-carbon future heat and energy source” and noted it has previously backed the fusion startup Zap energy, a spokesman said. Google, which has financed Commonwealth, declined to elaborate on its investment.

TAE is relying on an unusual approach to make fusion reality, melding hydrogen with boron, a material used in rocket fuel, in a contained magnetic field. It must do this in absurd heat. When announcing its financing, TAE shared that its current test reactor had managed to keep plasma stable at 75 million degrees Celsius (167 million Fahrenheit) — more than double the heat it initially aimed for.

According to Binderbauer, a key reason for TAE’s recent progress wasn’t pricier equipment but advances in intelligence software. “The reactor prototype runs itself,” he explains. “It learns from its own incremental experimentation.” When Gadomski visited the TAE facility, shortly before the pandemic, he recalled seeing a dozen Google engineers hooking up the machine to data-collection ports.

The challenge for years has been achieving net energy, where the energy produced exceeds the energy used, through slamming atoms together rather than splitting them. Companies tackling the problem are in a way beneficiaries of all the tech company investments “to make these things faster,” Binderbauer says, holding up his smartphone with a smile. “One or more of us will crack that nut.”

Each TAE machine costs upwards of $250 million in capital spending, Binderbauer said. TAE’s current model is about the size of a double-decker bus and it plans to use the new funds to build an even larger machine, called Copernicus, to repeat the test in double the temperature.

In 2017, TAE formed a medical subsidiary to market components of its tech for cancer research, a chance to make actual money. (It hasn’t shared financial figures.) Multinationals like Google and Chevron are unlikely to be investing purely for financial returns. They want exposure to this cutting-edge research or early dibs if it eventually works, though Binderbauer says the recent financing doesn't give funders exclusive access to TAE's tech.

Bloomberg Intelligence strategist Mike Dennis pegged the eventual nuclear fusion market at $40 trillion. Even if its initial contribution to the world's total energy output is tiny, Dennis said fusion will remake energy markets the way Tesla remade the automobile industry.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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Content: Spanish renewable energy investor Qualitas Energy has concluded the acquisition of DunoAir’s German onshore wind development business.

Qualitas German subsidiary Qualitas Energy Deutschland has executed the deal and will increase its German platform capacity to 2.9GW.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Qualitas Energy partner and chief investment officer Daniel Parejo stated: “We are delighted to join forces with DunoAir, a company with which we share a commitment to the transition to a decarbonised economy.

“Qualitas Energy continues to invest in the acquisition of German and international renewable energy projects, and this represents a major step towards our goal of becoming one of the key platforms in the German market.”

Based in the city of Trier, DunoAir’s German onshore wind development business is focused on the planning and construction of wind power plants in Germany.

It currently has 1.4GW of development wind assets.

The German business of DunoAir will retain its organisational structure and brand.

DunoAir Group CEO Arjen Ploeg said: “We are proud to have built a company that has been recognised for its business strategy and industry-leading solutions. This acquisition represents a natural evolution for our business and allows us to expand our reach and impact.

“We are confident that this new partnership will drive even greater success for our stakeholders, and we look forward to joining forces with Qualitas Energy and to keep bringing our shared vision in the energy transition.”

Title:

Content: Germany's HH2E, brown coal firm Leag agree on green hydrogen cooperation

FRANKFURT, Feb 3 (Reuters) - German energy firm HH2E and brown coal miner and power generator Leag plan to cooperate on green hydrogen plants at sites in the eastern German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg, the companies said on Friday.

Germany is aiming to make emissions-free hydrogen a crucial part of the energy sector by 2030, although disruption of gas supplies following Russia's invasion of Ukraine has forced the country to resort to polluting forms of energy in the short term, while pursuing renewable fuel as a longer term goal.

The two companies said they will create a value chain from producing green hydrogen from renewable energy to transporting and commercialising its use.

Leag, based in eastern Germany's Lusatia region and owned by Czech investor EPH and private equity group PPF Investments, aims to bring 7 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind power plants online by 2030.

HH2E co-founder Andreas Schierenbeck said the company, which plans to install 4 GW of electrolysis capacity to get access to renewable power.

The electrolysers pass renewably-produced electricity through water to split it into hydrogen and oxygen.

Last week, HH2E announced plans for a second major plant.

Green hydrogen releases energy without making carbon dioxide, meaning it can be used as an emissions-free source of energy.

Hydrogen sceptics, however, say the new industry could serve to artificially prolong the life of fossil fuel incumbents instead of giving new players a chance.

Some critics also say it is uncertain whether the costs of the new infrastructure will become competitive and whether enough renewable power will be available to make green hydrogen. (Reporting by Vera Eckert, editing by Miranda Murray and Louise Heavens)

Germany's HH2E, brown coal firm Leag agree on green...

The immediate consequence of the nuclear phaseout has been a significant restructuring of the German energy grid.

The immediate consequence of the nuclear phaseout has been a significant restructuring of the German energy grid.

The immediate consequence of the nuclear phaseout has been a significant restructuring of the German energy grid.

Nuclear power’s removal created a supply gap that has been partially filled by renewables, which now account for approximately 41% of the energy mix, but also by increased reliance on coal (28%) and natural gas (15%) as of 2021 .

Title:

Content: Advertisment

Germany Achieves 10% Reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions, On Track for 2030 Climate Goals

Germany achieves a 10.1% cut in greenhouse gas emissions in 2023, marking significant progress in its journey towards environmental sustainability.

Nimrah Khatoon
New Update

Germany marked a significant milestone in its environmental efforts, reporting a 10.1% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions in 2023, as confirmed by official data. Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, doubling as the economy and climate minister, announced that with about 673 million tons of greenhouse gases emitted last year, Germany is poised to meet its ambitious 2030 target of reducing emissions by 65% relative to 1990 levels. This progress is attributed to the robust expansion of renewable energy sources and a strategic move away from coal and gas, despite the economic challenges faced by businesses and consumers.

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Strategic Expansion of Renewable Energy

The Federal Environmental Agency highlighted the country's "very successful expansion of renewable energies" as a pivotal factor in the emission reduction. Germany's focused efforts on solar and wind power and other renewable sources have not only contributed to the decline in emissions but also positioned the country as a leader in renewable energy adoption. However, the agency also pointed out that more efforts are needed, especially in the transport sector, to continue this positive trend.

Challenges and Projections

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The ministry led by Habeck noted that while projections for the coming years are promising, showing a potential decline in emissions by nearly 64% by 2030 compared with 1990, challenges remain. The transport sector, in particular, requires significant advancements in electric mobility and a reevaluation of subsidies. The country's economic performance, impacted by high energy prices and global economic instability, underscores the need for continued dedication to environmental goals amidst adversity.

Looking Forward

Germany's commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2045 remains steadfast, with renewable energy playing a crucial role in this journey. The nation's progress, including the notable decline in greenhouse gas emissions in 2023, serves as a testament to its capacity for green transformation. As Germany continues on this path, the global community watches closely, recognizing the potential ripple effect of its actions on international climate policy and the broader fight against climate change.

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This shift has complicated Germany’s climate goals, as coal and gas are more polluting than nuclear, leading to higher carbon emissions and an estimated $12 billion annually in social costs from air pollution .

Title:

Content: Qcells plugs in Completely Clean Energy for Intersolar Europe 2022

Featuring next-generation, high-efficiency modules, intelligent storage solutions, and an enticing package of cost-saving electricity tariffs for the end customer, Qcells – resplendent in its new brand and emboldened by its new vision – anticipates an era-defining exhibition in Munich.

An electric return to business is expected at the Messe München between May 11 - 13, 2022, as the European solar industry reconvenes en masse for the Smarter E Europe exhibition - home to the renowned Intersolar Europe show; a bustling place where Qcells will resume its position as the most prominent player on the trade floor.

Qcells' dazzling array of state-of-the-art solar modules and storage solutions should catch the eye of all visitors to Hall A1 (A1.180 + A1.270), while the new Qcells brand image, logo, core values and new mission will serve as an inviting launchpad for a future powered by Completely Clean Energy.
After a COVID-induced, two-year hiatus, Qcells is fully energized to showcase the company's evolution - both in terms of technology and vision - and looks forward to warmly welcoming thousands of curious, clean energy advocates to our booth. Here's what you can expect.
Qcells sunshine on the trade floor
The evolution of Qcells as a provider of completely clean energy solutions has begun. Yet the company remains truer than ever to its core competency - delivering high-end, boundary breaking solar modules to the market.
In 2022, Qcells is taking a giant step forward. The company's established, patent-protected proprietary Q.ANTUM Technology continues to form the foundation of innovation at Qcells, and Intersolar Europe 2022 will launch the new era of Q.ANTUM NEO Technology.
Q.ANTUM NEO is an evolutionary advancement for Qcells, building upon Q.ANTUM Technology to deliver average cell efficiency of >24%. With an efficiency headroom of >25%, and boasting the very same features of durability and performance that made the PERC-like Q.ANTUM such a game-changer, Q.ANTUM NEO will play a starring role in Qcells' future module roadmap.
Q.ANTUM NEO is based on a TopCON-type cell structure that incorporates passivating contact technology to deliver higher efficiencies than typical PERC-type cells.
Using an N-type silicon substrate, passivating rear-side contact, ARC (anti-reflective coating) module optimization, and Q.ANTUM DUO Z's state-of-the-art module interconnection technology, modules made with Q.ANTUM NEO can reach full area module efficiency of more than 22%.
On display at the booth will be three solar modules made with Q.ANTUM NEO cells: the Q.TRON-G1+, the Q.TRON BLK M-G2+, made with larger 182 mm wafers (market introduction planned for 2023), and the Q.TRON SMART BLK-G1+, which is embedded with power optimizer technology from Maxim Integrated to deliver a further performance boost even under difficult conditions on the roof. Solar arrays comprising the Q.TRON SMART BLK-G1+ module will also feature an intelligent monitoring interface from Sunsniffer, which helps place greater energy consumption control in the hands of the customer.
The Q.TRON-G1+ is Qcells' flagship Q.ANTUM NEO module, available as a 120 half-cell version, manufactured with 166 mm wafers in a zero-gap layout. The Q.TRON G1+ is an ideal solution for all types of rooftop applications thanks to its high efficiency (power classes of up to 400 Wp), high power density and excellent reliability and performance, assured by the TÜV Rheinland Quality Controlled PV (QCPV) certification program.
Other solar modules to be showcased by Qcells include the new Q-PEAK DUO BLK M-G11+ and Q.PEAK DUO ML-G11.2+ series, which are made using the larger 182 mm wafers to reach very high power output.
Clean and efficient to the Core
Pure photovoltaic power, captured by Qcells modules and stored with one of the company's intelligent battery solutions is an unshakeable pillar of our Completely Clean Energy ethos. Which is why visitors to Intersolar Europe 2022 can learn all about Qcells' new Q.HOME CORE energy storage system, which has been developed to specifically meet the energy storage needs of homeowners in a number of Europe's most mature solar markets.
The Q.HOME CORE H4 is a hybrid unit that is perfect for markets such as the UK and France thanks to its easy configuration with any new solar installation. With an embedded hybrid inverter, two MPPT trackers and a maximum voltage of 800 V per tracker, this modular system can be adapted to perfectly manage the PV production of a typical household - up to 20.5 kWh.
The Q.HOME CORE A4, meanwhile, is an AC-coupled device that can be integrated seamlessly into an existing PV system for efficient charging, cycling and storage of solar energy. This makes it an ideal fit for growing retrofit markets in countries such as Germany and France.
A promise of Completely Clean Energy
Beyond solar modules and intelligent storage devices, Qcells has always prided itself on engendering a sustainable way of thinking, doing, and acting. The company's Distributed Energy Services (DES) division continues to gain market share in Germany with its attractive electricity retail contracts, designed to remove the stress, worry and high upfront costs from customers keen to green their power supply. By using 100% renewable sources, guaranteed, and offering a suite of payment or loan options for small businesses, Qcells DES broadens the company's scope to deliver Completely Clean Energy to the world.
But that is not all. In lock-step with the new Qcells values - Trailblazer, Stewardship, Paragon - the company's mission is to aim for a greener tomorrow. To achieve that, Qcells' parent company Hanwha Solutions recently became the largest shareholder in REC Silicon in the USA.
This move will enable Qcells to secure an independent, fully traceable and low-carbon supply line for the raw materials vital to producing world-changing solar modules. In pursuing a commitment to build a fully American solar supply chain, Hanwha Solutions provides Qcells with the framework within which to strengthen U.S. energy security. The move also delivers the utmost peace of mind to its global customers that Qcells modules are produced ethically, transparently, and to high standards. Furthermore, it means that all solar grade polysilicon produced by REC Silicon for Qcells modules is made using hydropower-based clean energy.
Qcells CEO Justin Lee said: "Decades of growth has led Qcells to the pinnacle of the solar industry. However, as the clean energy landscape evolves, Qcells is adapting not only its portfolio, its supply chains and its markets, but also its mindset. We aim to become a trailblazer in clean energy solutions, offering stewardship towards a better, more sustainable tomorrow, and acting as a paragon of good, ethical and progressive practice throughout the entire energy industry.
"Intersolar Europe 2022 comes at a time of great uncertainty in the wider world, but conversely at a time of great opportunity and laser-focus for the clean energy sector. The world now clearly knows that its future depends on living more in a more sustainable fashion, and Qcells is ready to take on that leadership and responsibility, lighting every step of the way with Completely Clean Energy."
Booth highlights at Intersolar Europe 2022
Booth (A1.180 + A1.270)
• Q.TRON-G1+: Q.ANTUM NEO Technology-based half-cell module. Power ratings of up to 400 Wp and efficiency of more than 22%.
• Q.TRON BLK M-G2+: Q.ANTUM NEO Technology-based half cell module made using larger 182mm wafers.
• Q.HOME CORE: a sleek, easy-to-use flexible storage system that is ideally suited for most residential applications.
• Presentations (in German and English) introducing the new Qcells brand, image, ethos and mission: Completely Clean Energy
• Vibrant video screens showcasing the latest Qcells services and products.
• Attentive and knowledgeable staff on hand to talk and walk you through our latest products.
About Qcells
Qcells is one of the world's leading clean energy companies, recognized for its established reputation as a manufacturer of high-performance, high-quality solar cells and modules, portfolio of intelligent storage systems, and growing international pipeline of large-scale renewable energy projects. Qcells also provides renewable electricity retail services and packages to end customers the world over. The company is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea (Global Executive HQ) and Thalheim, Germany (Technology & Innovation HQ) with its diverse international manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Malaysia, China, and South Korea. Qcells offers Completely Clean Energy through the full spectrum of photovoltaic products, storage solutions, renewable electricity contracting and large-scale solar power plants. Through its growing global business network spanning Europe, North America, Asia, South America, Africa and the Middle East, Qcells provides excellent services and long-term partnerships to its customers in the utility, commercial, governmental and residential markets. For more information, visit: http://www.q-cells.com.

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Title:

Content: End of the German Idyll

Its industrial prowess, cheap Russian energy, and access to global markets are at risk.

Germany looked normal over the weekend as a genial Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed the Group of Seven leaders and their guests to the luxurious Schloss Elmau in the Bavarian Alps. But those appearances are deceiving. Germany is facing its gravest challenges since the foundation of the Federal Republic following World War II.

This is very sudden. As recently as 2020, almost the entire world agreed with the smug German self-assessment that Germany had the world’s most successful economic model, was embarking on the most ambitious—and largely successful—climate initiative in the world, and had perfected a values-based foreign policy that ensured German security and international popularity at extremely low cost.

None of this was true. The German economic model was based on unrealistic assumptions about world politics and is unlikely to survive the current turmoil. German energy policy is a chaotic mess, a shining example to the rest of the world of what not to do. Germany’s reputation for a values-based foreign policy has been severely dented by Berlin’s waffling over aid to Ukraine. And German security experts are coming to terms with a deeply unwelcome truth: Confronted with an aggressive Russia, Germany, like Europe generally, is utterly reliant on the U.S. for its security. At a time when American foreign policy increasingly prioritizes Asia and isolationist sentiment among both Republicans and Democrats appears to be rising, if Donald Trump returns to the White House in 2025, German security will depend on his goodwill.

Mr. Scholz and his coalition government have responded to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Russia with a series of, by German standards, revolutionary changes. Germany is beginning to rearm. It is, with some false starts, sending weapons to Ukraine. It has taken the first steps toward energy independence from Russia, even at the cost of its ambitious climate agenda. Coal plants will lumber back to life, new gas-processing plants will be built, and Germany is asking Europe to delay decarbonization mandates that no longer seem realistic.

But the real work remains to be done. Modern Germany was above all an economic project. The collapse of the Third Reich left Germany morally devastated, physically wrecked and economically bankrupt. From the moment of its foundation in 1949, the country’s central goal was economic growth. That growth could repair the destruction of the war, promote Germany’s peaceful integration into Western Europe, blunt the appeal of communism, and build a national identity independent of the malignant fantasies of the Hitler era and the bombast of Wilhelm II. The hard work of the German people, the pragmatic policies of the political class, the skills and determination of German management, and the favorable international climate resulting from the development of the American-led world order took Germany to economic heights.

In recent years, the German economic miracle depended on a combination of industrial prowess, cheap energy from Russia, and access to global markets, particularly in China. Today every one of those pillars is under threat. German mastery of automobile technology through a century of engineering is challenged by the shift to electric vehicles. The chemicals industry, in which German technology has led the world since the 19th century, is coming under environmental challenges as global competition intensifies.

Those challenges are exacerbated by the loss of cheap and secure Russian natural gas. Green energy, despite massive German investment, will be unable to supply German industry with reliable and cheap power for a long time. In the meantime, the alternatives to Russian pipeline gas are expensive and controversial. Nuclear power gives Greens the willies; coal is unbearable; liquefied natural gas requires long-term commitments and massive capital expenditures.

Beyond that, Germany’s economic relationship with China is changing for the worse. China was long the ideal customer for German products. Its newly affluent middle class fell in love with German luxury cars. Its rapidly growing manufacturing sector voraciously consumed German machine tools and other capital goods. But China’s growth is decelerating. Its maturing industrial economy seeks to compete with high-end German producers, often based on tools reverse-engineered from German imports.

Those in the Biden administration who dream that Germany will wholeheartedly join a new global American crusade for values should keep their enthusiasm in check. Mr. Scholz may agree in the abstract with President Biden about the importance of liberal values and the danger of climate change, but his calculations must reflect the economic facts of German life. This naturally leads to thoughts about how to patch things up with Russia and China.

Mr. Biden’s job is not to sing hymns about Western values with Mr. Scholz; it is to make Berlin understand that U.S. security guarantees come at a price. Given the realities of American politics, Germany cannot count on continued American support unless it does more to back the U.S. at a time of grave and growing danger world-wide.

Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Appeared in the June 28, 2022, print edition.

Despite a 10.1% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in 2023, largely due to renewable expansion, challenges persist in sectors like transport and in maintaining grid stability .

The loss of nuclear capacity has also introduced volatility and risk into the energy market.

The loss of nuclear capacity has also introduced volatility and risk into the energy market.

The loss of nuclear capacity has also introduced volatility and risk into the energy market.

High energy prices, exacerbated by the need to import more expensive fossil fuels, have threatened Germany’s industrial competitiveness.

High energy prices, exacerbated by the need to import more expensive fossil fuels, have threatened Germany’s industrial competitiveness.

High energy prices, exacerbated by the need to import more expensive fossil fuels, have threatened Germany’s industrial competitiveness.

The Federation of German Industries reported that one in three manufacturers is considering relocating production abroad due to high energy costs and uncertainty about long-term supply .

Title:

Content: How decades of complacency have left Germany facing a cold, dark winter

Betrayed by its own elite, the country is at risk of social unrest

Germany is facing its worst winter for 75 years. The impending catastrophe risks crippling its economy, sweeping away its government and bringing chaos to the heart of Europe.

In 1946-47, perhaps half a million Germans starved or froze to death in their ruined cities. Older Germans still shudder at the memory of the “Hunger Winter”. Some blamed the Nazis, others the Allied occupation. In fact, the British sent food, fuel and clothing they could ill afford to spare themselves.

Now Europe’s largest economy is heading for a winter of recession, rationing and possible blackouts. This time, though, there is nobody to blame except Germany’s complacent – and in some cases corrupt – political establishment.

As Vladimir Putin chokes off Russian gas supplies – already down to a fifth of their pre-war level – by closing the Nord Stream 1 pipeline for “maintenance” yet again next week, the lamps are going out for Olaf Scholz and his “traffic light” coalition of Social Democrats, Liberal and Greens.

'Autumn of rage'

The Bundesbank has been predicting a recession and the latest figures show that business activity is already contracting. Inflation, which hit 8.5 per cent last month, is expected to keep rising along with the rest of the eurozone, probably into double figures.

Yet for historical reasons Germans won’t just accept high inflation as a consequence of the war in Ukraine. The world remembers the hyperinflation that undermined the Weimar Republic a century ago; only older Germans recall the hyperinflation after the Second World War, which lasted longer. For three years Germany’s only stable currency was American cigarettes. No wonder Germans have been allergic to inflation ever since.

It is true that Germans are not yet demanding big pay rises or going on strike. But energy prices are already rising exponentially. The country's one-year ahead power price has skyrocketed to almost €1,000 per megawatt-hour, a jump of more than 720pc since the start of 2022. If Putin turns off the tap, bringing the mighty German economy to a juddering halt this winter, there is a real danger of civil unrest.

Intelligence officials are warning that extremist organisations, such as the neo-Nazis of Combat 18, are planning an “autumn of rage”. As a foretaste, in the old Prussian town of Neuruppin near Berlin, there were ugly scenes this month as Scholz was shouted down by far-Left and far-Right protesters.

But the panic and indignation now brewing go far beyond the ranks of the “unteachable” extremists.

Germans sense that unaccountable elites have ceded control of their country’s destiny to Putin. The more they are must pay him for Russian gas, the bigger his war chest with which to perpetrate genocide in Ukraine.

Forcing Germany to be complicit in a colossal crime against humanity is a diabolical twist in the vengeance that Putin is now exacting upon Europe for backing Ukraine. According to The Economist’s Christian Odendahl, at present prices Germany will need to spend 8.4 per cent of its GDP on gas. Hitherto it was just 1 per cent.

Already preparations are underway for central heating to be rationed or even switched off, forcing residents to seek shelter in schools or town halls.

The country is scrambling to reduce its reliance on gas with a campaign to make households cut back, and a massive national effort has brought gas storage levels up to 81 per cent full.

Food prices, meanwhile, rose at a rate of nearly 15 per cent in July. Those who fear being unable to afford to heat their homes or feed their families are prey to angst and anger.

Actions have consequences... or do they?

Few foresaw the Russian invasion of Ukraine, let alone its devastating consequences for Europe. But it is dawning on the German people that the seeds of the present crisis were sown over the quarter of a century from 1998 to 2022, under Angela Merkel and her predecessor, Gerhard Schröder.

These were the years of plenty for Germany, when Berlin dominated the European Union, ensuring that its export-led economy benefited from the single currency while loading the social costs on to its poorer neighbours. But Germany’s dirty secret was cheap Russian energy.

Under Schröder – who went on to become one of Putin’s “useful idiots” – German industry began to abandon its postwar reliance on coal and nuclear energy in favour of Russian gas and renewables.

In 2011, after the Fukushima accident, Mrs Merkel announced that all German nuclear power plants would be closed down. It was a pyrrhic victory for the Greens but backed by all the major parties. Public opinion had been turned against nuclear energy in the 1980s by the Soviet-funded “peace movement”. Now the Greens are the keystone of the Scholz coalition.

Even in the country’s present predicament, Robert Habeck, the Green Vice-Chancellor and Environment Minister, is refusing to reverse the exit from nuclear to alleviate the energy crisis, though it is still possible over time to reactivate a number of nuclear power stations.

Yet Berlin is demanding that 26 other EU member states make huge cuts in energy use this winter to help Germany – to the irritation of the Spanish and others, who don’t depend on Russian gas and recall lectures from Berlin during the eurozone crisis about actions having consequences.

For decades, the Kremlin acted as Germany’s geopolitical drug-dealer, tempting Berlin to become ever more addicted to the energy that fuelled its manufacturing, pharmaceutical and chemical factories. Now that the Germans are about to go cold turkey, they are discovering how cynically the national interest was betrayed by their politicians and captains of industry.

With Schröder as its salesman, a new Nord Stream 2 pipeline was built under the Baltic Sea — with the blessing of Mrs Merkel, who fended off Anglo-American pressure to cancel what was regarded as a threat to European energy security.

Last year, as Russian tanks massed on the Ukrainian border and Nato warned of imminent invasion, Gazprom redoubled its efforts to keep the flagship project on track.

The Russian energy giant poured €192 million (£163m) into an environmental foundation set up by Manuela Schwesig, the Social Democratic premier of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern — the state that hosted Nord Stream 2 and stood to gain most. She proceeded to denounce the US for opposing the pipeline, claiming that American sanctions were purely self-interested.

Putin’s stooges almost succeeded in persuading Scholz to defy his Nato allies. He dithered until the eve of February’s invasion before shelving Nord Stream 2.

Now, after six months of Europe’s worst war since 1945, some German politicians are once again calling for the pipeline to be opened “so that people do not have to freeze in winter and our industry does not suffer serious damage”, as Wolfgang Kubicki, Vice-President of the German Parliament, puts it.

Meanwhile Ms Schwesig has just been re-elected as leader of the Social Democrats in her state by a large majority. Schröder has yet to be expelled from the party, let alone sanctioned.

Germany’s Achilles’ heel

This is the measure of Germany’s abject reliance, not only on Russian energy, but on the Russian state. For Putin, gas and oil were only ever a means to an end. He has always wanted to reduce the Germans — towards whom Russians have traditionally had an inferiority complex — to a status of servility.

Stalin only succeeded in dividing Germany. Putin seeks to turn the entire Federal Republic into his client state — and thereby impose his will upon Europe.

With the unerring eye of the predator, Putin grasped that energy was Germany’s Achilles’ heel. A single plant of a single corporation, the headquarters of the chemical and pharmaceutical giant BASF at Ludwigshafen, uses as much energy as Denmark.

Over the last 25 years, Germany’s craving for cheap energy led it into an unequal relationship with Russia — what the philosopher Hegel called “the dialectic of master and slave”.

Putin saw that some German politicians could be bought (Schröder), others bamboozled (Merkel), and still others bullied (Scholz). Other EU countries followed the German example by relying heavily on Moscow for energy, influenced by the evasion and ambivalence that has characterised Berlin’s policy for decades.

Germany, whose economy is substantially larger than Britain’s, has given just £1 billion in military aid to Ukraine compared to the UK’s £3.5 billion. The United States has given ten times as much as the EU. Yet Ukraine is a European country under genocidal attack.

The reluctance to provoke Putin that still prevails in wide circles of the Federal Republic is rooted in exaggerated notions of Russian military power, economic importance and cultural pre-eminence.

German fatalism about Russia’s ability to absorb casualties and yet win ultimate victory reflects folk memories of the Eastern Front. But Putin, unlike Stalin, does not have a vast conscript army at his disposal, he does not enjoy technical superiority and he cannot afford the war of attrition that he has unleashed. Nor are the Russian people united against an invading force in defence of their homeland. Only in Berlin do they think this is another Stalingrad.

This historical myopia has much to do with the long-standing German habit of subsuming the other nations that made up the Soviet Union into Russia. To this day most Germans have no awareness of the fact that the Nazis killed millions of Ukrainian civilians and devastated their country.

Ironically, many artists, writers and musicians who have fled Ukraine have found refuge in Germany. One example is the composer Valentin Silvestrov, who fled to Berlin aged 84 with one suitcase, full of his manuscripts. Once there, he discovered that Ukrainian music was unknown in Germany. Now that Silvestrov’s works are being performed, including at the Proms in London, the Germans are slowly waking up to the presence of a greater living composer than any of their own.

Many ordinary Germans, like the British, instinctively warm to the Ukrainian cause. The difference is in leadership – or lack of it. Chancellor Olaf Scholz, unlike Boris Johnson or Liz Truss, has shown only lukewarm support for Kyiv and has been implicitly rebuked by President Zelensky.

Hamburger grilled

Although there is no suggestion that Scholz has been bribed to go easy on Russia, he himself has become embroiled in a corruption scandal. He is accused of helping M.M. Warburg & Co, Germany’s oldest and largest private bank, to avoid a €47 million fine in 2016, during his time as Finance Minister in the Merkel coalition.

The Hamburg-based bank is alleged to have made up to €300 million in a capital gains tax scam which came to light while Scholz was also mayor of the city state. Just as he finds himself facing an unexpectedly grim present and a positively terrifying future, his provincial past has returned to haunt him.

Last week the Chancellor was grilled by a committee of inquiry in Hamburg. The normally meticulous Scholz claimed not to remember any details about his meetings with Warburg’s former chief, Christian Olearius, who has now been charged with tax evasion. Germany’s safe pair of hands, whom millions had entrusted with the nation’s finances, is now accused of being cosy with tax-dodging bankers and being an unimpressive, even unreliable, witness.

In other ways, too, Scholz is failing to live up to the moral example set by the two great Social Democratic Chancellors of post-war Germany, Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt. At a joint press conference with Mahmoud Abbas in Berlin earlier this month, Scholz remained tight-lipped while the Palestinian leader delivered an anti-Semitic tirade, accusing Israel of committing “many Holocausts” against his people.

Schmidt, who concealed the fact he had a Jewish grandfather from the Nazis but as Chancellor was an outspoken philosemite, would not have been impressed by his fellow Hamburger Scholz. Nor would Brandt, who famously fell to his knees at the memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Not for decades has anti-Semitism been such a threat in Germany: in July, Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial was desecrated with swastikas. Now, as Putin’s myrmidons massacre and deport Ukrainians near the site of Nazi genocide, while a quarter of the Russian Jewish population has emigrated in anticipation of pogroms, Germany needs a leader who is not afraid to denounce anti-Semitism even at the cost of diplomatic niceties.

After less than a year in office, Scholz’s personal ratings are plumbing depths never seen during Mrs Merkel’s 16 years at the helm. As Germans brace themselves for unprecedented hardships in peacetime, they are led by a weak and indecisive Chancellor at the head of a fragile three-party coalition.

Post-heroic, post-patriotic

Wednesday’s visit to Kyiv by Boris Johnson – his third – to mark Ukraine’s Independence Day was hugely appreciated not only by Volodymyr Zelensky but by all Ukrainians. Yet it was a gesture of solidarity that did not occur – could not have occurred – to Olaf Scholz.

The German Chancellor’s only visit to the Ukrainian capital last June, accompanied by Emmanuel Macron and Mario Draghi, was an awkward, chilly affair that yielded little more than promises. This week, Scholz posted a short video message, concluding: “Our hearts are with you.” Ulrich Speck, a German foreign policy analyst, commented: “Hearts, yes. But not weapons.”

Johnson, by contrast, knows he is among friends in Kyiv – a friendship symbolised by Zelensky awarding him Ukraine’s highest honour, the Order of Liberty. It is impossible to imagine the lugubrious German Chancellor finding the Prime Minister’s pithy words: “While people [in the West] are paying energy bills, people in Ukraine are paying with blood.” Nor would Scholz echo him in declaring: “I believe Ukraine can and will win this war.”

For his part, Zelensky told his people that they had been “reborn” in the heat of war. “We used to say: ‘Peace’. Now we say: ‘Victory’,” he declared.

Highly educated Germans find it hard to empathise with such Churchillian sentiments. Jürgen Habermas, the eminence grise of German intellectuals, makes condescending comments about Ukraine as a primitive place, still captive to the nationalist illusions of the last century, unlike more sophisticated, “post-heroic” Germany. It doesn’t occur to the 93-year-old philosopher that without the heroism of its soldiers and civilians, Ukraine would by now have ceased to exist.

Prussian military prowess has long since given way to post-patriotic pusillanimity. Where Merkel and Scholz feared to tread and even Biden was hesitant, Johnson was the first to commit himself wholeheartedly to the cause and to visit war-torn Kyiv.

Many other nations – the Poles, the Baltic states, the Scandinavians and the Canadians among them – have been more supportive than the Germans, who owe Ukrainians the greatest moral debt.

Berlin boasts of handing out a handful of howitzers while dithering over clapped-out armoured vehicles. Meanwhile British arms and training, Turkish drones and American rocket artillery systems have proved decisive on the battlefield.

Sold down the Dnieper

Although the Scholz coalition officially sides with Ukraine, the unpalatable fact remains that Germany and its EU partners are financing Russian aggression by paying vast sums for Russian gas.

Will they stand up to Putin in Germany when the enormity of the ordeal ahead becomes clear to everybody? Will public opinion continue to back even the present feeble commitment, or will the voices calling for peace at the expense of Ukrainians prevail? It is all too believable that at some point, probably early next year when gas storage facilities are empty, Berlin – and Brussels – will open negotiations with the Kremlin, regardless of Kyiv’s wishes.

Yet it is then that the ghosts of the past may rise up to intervene in the present. The thought of Germans and Russians redrawing the map of Eastern Europe at the conference table sends shivers down the spines of every Pole, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian and, of course, Ukrainian. On August 23, 1940, exactly 82 years ago this week, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed, carving up Poland (which then included Lviv and other parts of present-day Ukraine) and the Baltic states between Russia and Germany. No German Chancellor wishes to be reminded of that precedent.

However, nor can Scholz risk presiding over an even deeper and more lasting recession than that caused by the Covid pandemic. Somehow he must steer a course between the Scylla of appeasing Putin and the Charybdis of economic ruin.

The tension between these positions is reflected in the tripartite coalition. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and the Greens are the hawks, Finance Minister Christian Lindner and his pro-business Free Democrats are the doves, while the Social Democrats are deeply divided. The party leadership leans towards Moscow, the rank and file towards Kyiv. This explains why Scholz never says that he wants Ukraine to win the war, merely that they must not lose it.

The opposition Christian Democrats are only slightly more united. They too have a large wing that privately favours a negotiated peace, represented by their pro-business leader Friedrich Merz, and a smaller but not insignificant group led by the foreign affairs expert Norbert Röntgen, who hope for a Ukrainian victory. Merz has papered over the cracks by focusing on a campaign to reverse his predecessor Mrs Merkel’s exit from nuclear energy.

Meanwhile, the “understanding Putin” lobby has the support of both the hard Left Die Linke and anti-immigration AfD parties. German public opinion has slowly tiptoed away from its initial admiration for Ukrainian resistance and towards a compromise peace.

That subtle shift could soon become an overwhelming tide, once Germans are required to make real sacrifices. Vladimir Putin, we may be sure, is counting on it.

From October, Scholz will impose a gas levy on consumers to compensate energy companies for the cost of replacing Russian gas supplies. Germany’s biggest energy company, Uniper, was bailed out in July to the tune of £12.5 billion; it is now claiming another £18.5 billion of levies.

This policy is bound to be unpopular, since it redistributes tens of billions from the poor to the rich — curious thinking for a government of the Left. But this is nothing compared to the prospect of protests sparked by a national shutdown caused, not by a deadly virus, but by Putin’s energy politics.

A change in the air?

Modern Germany has a volatile history of popular protest. It began with the revolution that toppled the Kaiser in 1918. The Nazis mobilised the masses to carry out their “national revolution” in 1933. A workers’ uprising in East Germany was crushed by Soviet tanks in 1953. Student protests brought about a cultural revolution in 1968. Uniquely bloodless and benign was the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. This was Germany’s finest hour.

The defiance that breached the Wall and sent the Soviet army home was a blessing, but the despair that Putin’s revenge may induce this winter will surely be a curse. Gas has given the Russian dictator coercive control over the German political class, which willingly acquiesced in its fate.

In Kyiv, Boris Johnson said: “I can tell you that we in the UK will not for one second give in to Putin’s blackmail.” Olaf Scholz is incapable of speaking like this — because he does not believe it. He has failed to frame the coming ordeal as a battle in which Germans must make sacrifices for their own liberty, not just Ukraine’s. People don’t mind his lack of charisma; they do mind facing a nightmarish winter with spineless hypocrisy at the helm.

Will it become so obvious by next spring that Scholz is unequal to the task that either he or his coalition are replaced? Can the centre of German politics hold — or are we about to see a terrible revolt of the masses against a discredited political establishment? It has happened before. It can happen again.

Daniel Johnson was the Telegraph’s correspondent in Germany and Eastern Europe in the late 1980s. He is now the editor of TheArticle.

Title:

Content: Renewable investment in first half of 2022 jumps 11% to $226bn

Investment in new projects climbs to a record $120bn

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Global investment in the renewable energy sector climbed 11 per cent to $226 billion in the first half of 2022 amid higher energy prices, according to a report by research company BloombergNEF (Bnef).

Investment in new large- and small-scale solar projects rose 33 per cent to a record-breaking $120bn, while wind project financing grew 16 per cent to $84bn, the report said.

“Policymakers are increasingly recognising that renewable energy is the key to unlocking energy security goals and reducing dependence on volatile energy commodities,” said Albert Cheung, head of analysis at Bnef.

“Despite the headwinds presented by ongoing cost inflation and supply chain challenges, demand for clean energy sources has never been higher, and we expect that the global energy crisis will continue to act as an accelerant for the clean energy transition.”

Oil prices, which rose 68 per cent last year during a faster-than-expected economic rebound, have been extremely volatile this year, rocked by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Brent is up more than 28 per cent since the start of the year after falling from a 14-year high in April when the benchmark touched nearly $140 per barrel after sanctions by the US and the UK on the import of Russian crude.

Brent, the global benchmark for two thirds of the world's oil, was trading at $100.10 per barrel at 7.54pm UAE time on Tuesday, while West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, was at $93.86 a barrel.

Renewables are expected to drive 8 per cent rise in global energy investment in 2022, to this year to $2.4 trillion, a report has shown, the International Energy Agency said in a June report. The energy body expect more investors to lean towards clean energy amid the universal drive to seek alternatives to fossil fuels.

The fastest growth in energy investment is coming from the power sector — mainly in renewables and grids — and from energy efficiency, the IEA's World Energy Investment 2022 report showed.

Venture capital and private equity investments into renewables and energy storage climbed 63 per cent to reach a record $9.6bn in the first half of 2022, according to the BNEF report, while public market issuances for renewable energy companies dropped 65 per cent to $10.5bn.

China, the world’s second-largest economy, posted higher investment growth in wind and solar project finance. The country’s large-scale solar investments totalled $41bn in the first half of 2022, up 173 per cent from the year before. It also invested $58bn in new wind projects, up 107 per cent year on year, according to the report.

“Green infrastructure is the most important investment area that China is relying on to boost its weak economy in the second half of 2022,” said Nannan Kou, Bnef’s head of China analysis.

“The investment growth trend follows China’s strategy to build new renewable generation capacity so that it can replace its existing coal fleet. China is well on track to hit its 1,200 gigawatt wind and solar capacity target by 2030.”

Offshore wind was another sector that recorded a steep increase, with investment up 52 per cent from the previous year, to $32bn, the report said.

“Investments in 2022 will flow into projects coming online in the next few years as the offshore wind installed base is set to grow tenfold from 53 gigawatts in 2021 to 504 gigawatts in 2035," said Chelsea Jean-Michel, offshore wind analyst at BNEF.

"Offshore wind projects enable companies and governments to make progress towards their decarbonisation goals at scale. The UK, France and Germany are just a few of the countries that have increased their offshore wind targets in the first half of 2022, signalling further support for investment in the technology.”

Meanwhile, renewables remain extremely cost-competitive with prices in the industry dropping last year, even as the energy market tackles a global fossil fuel crisis, a recent report by the International Renewable Energy Agency showed.

Given the current high prices of fossil fuel generation, the renewable power added in 2021 saved about $55bn from global energy generation costs in 2022, according to Irena's estimates.

“Renewables are by far the cheapest form of power today,” Irena's director general Francesco La Camera, said last month.

Updated: August 03, 2022, 7:59 AM
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Content: There were 1,584 press releases posted in the last 24 hours and 428,843 in the last 365 days.

Four questions for Germany’s big hydrogen power plan

The German government is proposing to invest billions of euros to support the roll-out of a wave of hydrogen-fired power plants. This is part of a move to phase-out coal plants and to deploy large volumes of wind and solar generation.

Details of the hydrogen plan – the Kraftwerksstrategie or KWS – became available on 5 February through a press release from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action 1 , which confirmed government agreement on the scheme. The plan is now subject to the approval of the European Commission and negotiations with the German parliament.

The planned hydrogen subsidies would have a transformative impact on both the German and European electricity markets. But discussions on the plans during 2023 were the privilege only of those inside ministries. Given the importance of these plans, the lack of public debate or transparency so far, especially at European level, is concerning.

In this context, and to inform the debate that will now start, we pose four questions: Why hydrogen? What are the ramifications for the European market? Where in Germany? By when should coal be phased out?

An unprecedented transformation of the German electricity system

Germany wants 80 percent of domestic electricity generation to be renewable by 2030, up from 44 percent in 2022 2 . Specifically, this involves reaching an installed generation capacity of 215 gigawatts solar, 110 GW onshore wind and 30 GW offshore wind by 2030, more than doubling existing capacities in the next six year 3 .

Germany’s governing coalition must also decide whether to bring forward the legally-specified coal phase-out date from 2038 to 2030. Bringing it forward would imply replacement of an additional 17 GW of lignite and coal plants by 2030 4 , on top of 13 GW of plants already scheduled for shut down.

All this means restructuring the electricity system at unprecedented speed. To accompany variable renewables, the deployment of clean-generation capacity that can smooth fluctuations in renewable output – both intra-day and across seasons – is necessary. However, exactly how much new capacity is required, and from which technology, is not clear.

What does Germany aim to do? Principles and compromises

The main thrust of the power plant strategy is to provide subsidies for hydrogen-fired power plants. The German government sees these plants as replacements for coal-fired plants that will shut down, and as complements to variable renewable generation, most likely by helping to balance longer-term fluctuations in renewable output. This is consistent with the German government’s grander ambitions for hydrogen. Plans are being drawn up for a hydrogen pipeline network that will cover 10,000 km by 2032 5 , and up to €20 billion will be spent developing the hydrogen industry between 2024 and 2027 6 .

The government originally wanted to support three types of plant: 1) hydrogen sprinters, 2) hydrogen hybrid, and 3) hydrogen-ready. Sprinters are purpose-built turbines that would run on hydrogen from day one. Hybrids involve the co-location of hydrogen capabilities alongside solar PV or onshore wind, which could even out the electricity sent to the power grid 7 . Hydrogen-ready plants would be plants with gas-fired turbines, and a requirement to provide a detailed roadmap showing how they will switch to hydrogen no later than 2040.

In August 2023, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action said it had completed negotiations with the European Commission over provision of state aid to these three types of plant 8 . Plans were drawn up to subsidise 4.4 GW of sprinters, 4.4 GW of hybrid plants, and up to 15 GW of hydrogen-ready plants. A first tender was intended for December 2023.

However, like so much of Germany’s planned climate expenditure, this agreement was thrown into question by a November 2023 constitutional court ruling that COVID-19 debt allowances could not be rolled over into Germany’s Climate and Transformation Fund (Klima- und Transformationsfonds, KTF), on the basis that the rollover would breach government spending rules 9 . The KTF would have been the source of the originally-planned subsidies for three types of hydrogen plant.

Therefore, a compromise was worked out, culminating in the government’s 5 February announcement 10 . The government now plans to subsidise a lower volume of 10 GW hydrogen-ready turbines and has scrapped plans for the 8.8 GW combined sprinters and hybrids. A tender process will offer state support for the construction and operation of four natural gas-fired power plants. Bidders should draw up plans for transitioning to hydrogen between 2035 and 2040. The estimated cost is €16 billion 11 .

This would create a demand for hydrogen of 20 TWh annually once all plants are converted, assuming 1,000 running hours per year 12 . Demand of 20 TWh is significant but not disproportionate in the context of wider plans. Total German hydrogen demand today is 55 TWh, of which almost none is supplied as clean hydrogen produced using renewable electricity 13 . The German national hydrogen strategy sets a target for between 40 TWh and 75 TWh total clean hydrogen demand in 2030 (BMWK, 2023).

Until plants are converted to hydrogen, they will consume natural gas, again estimated at a 20 TWh annual consumption. This compares to typical annual German gas demand of 800 TWh, which will be substantially lower by 2030.

Read the full analysis at the original link.

About the authors

Ben McWilliams is working for Bruegel as an Affiliate fellow in the field of Energy and Climate Policy. His work involves data-driven analysis to critique and inform European public policy, specifically in the area of the energy sector and its decarbonisation.

Georg Zachmann is a Senior Fellow at Bruegel, where he has worked since 2009 on energy and climate policy. His work focuses on regional and distributional impacts of decarbonisation, the analysis and design of carbon, gas and electricity markets, and EU energy and climate policies.

Energy prices in Germany are significantly higher than in the US, and the government has explored subsidies and price caps to mitigate the impact on consumers and businesses .

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Content: Residential solar value after sunset

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From Huawei 2021 Special Edition

Few people with knowledge of what will be required for an economy-wide transition to renewable energy doubt that battery energy storage will play a key role in the energy system of the future. But what is needed and what is wanted from end consumers can often be very different things. As such, the adoption of residential energy storage systems in homes and small businesses has been patchy, even among leading rooftop solar marketplaces.

There are an increasing number of drivers for residential battery storage systems each year. But they do differ from market to market. The picture is a complex one, based on public policy, subsidies, grid characteristics, electricity pricing and market structures – to name but a few. Add to this the way in which consumer preferences vary from market to market, and the complexity in battery adoption drivers is notable.

Inside the market

Despite this complexity, the key drivers for residential battery storage adoption can be summarized as follows:

  1. Use of “own electrons”: This is both a financial and an “emotional” driver, and is often described by the somewhat unsettling moniker of maximizing “self-consumption.” In markets where there is a sizable gap between the feed-in tariff received for rooftop PV sent back into the grid and the retail rate for electricity consumed in the home, this delta provides a financial incentive for energy storage. There is also an emotional aspect to this, in that consumers want to use “their” solar electrons, generated on their own rooftops. Relatively good levels of self-consumption can be achieved using load shifting and other smart devices. However, there is a threshold to the efficacy of such measures, which can only be overcome through the installation of a battery storage product.
  2. Provision of backup power: When the lights go out, many households are severely impacted. Outages can cause particular disruption when fridges and freezers go out of function with the loss of grid power, and losses to household communications and entertainment can be inconvenient at best and dangerous at worst. When this is coupled with an increase in extreme weather events, the smooth provision of electricity to a household or small business by virtue of a residential battery system can be a very attractive prospect. Of course, local environmental and grid factors play a major role here, and in places where the grid is particularly robust, such as Germany, backup power is less of a driver for consumers. However, in some key battery storage marketplaces, such as the United States and Australia – two geographically large and developed economies where power outages still feature – the provision of backup power can be a compelling value proposition for homeowners and businesses.
  3. Contributing to the energy transition: As an increasing number of households see and even experience the impacts of climate change, they feel compelled to make a contribution. Taking control of your energy supply and consumption is one way of doing so, and a battery energy storage system provides an unprecedented opportunity to do so. Distributed battery systems also become more important in terms of grid stability and the ability of electricity distribution networks to absorb very high levels of rooftop PV – itself a necessary feature of a 100% green energy system. As such, residential batteries are likely to play an increasingly important role in the creation of a clean energy future at the distribution network level, and are an important way in which households can play an active role in averting catastrophic climate change.

Consumer drivers

These and other drivers for residential battery storage system adoption play out on the macro level – across various distributed battery marketplaces around the world – but in each market there are discrete versions, each with more tangible value propositions. A household in Vietnam desires backup power, but for different reasons to a consumer in the United States. For an Australian household, the need for a battery may be closely linked to solar feed-in-tariff structures, while in Belgium, existing subsidies provide a significant driver.

Consumers place varying levels of importance not only on the value proposition, but on attributes offered by an ESS supplier. These include brand recognition and trusted service, and extend to size and ease of installation, battery chemistry, and issues linked to the sustainability of the materials. And safety cannot be ignored, as is evident in Germany, where households want to be sure the battery in their basement is “as safe as houses.”

The following three case studies provide insights into the wider drivers and in particular, customer choices in key residential battery storage marketplaces.

Germany: Optimizing energy costs

Germany has long had a strong market for residential energy storage systems, and with thousands of rooftop PV installations in the country reaching the end of their feed-in-tariff agreements in the next few years, strong growth is expected to continue. Installers are forecasting 20-30% year-on-year growth for the market in 2021.

Local distributor Wagner Solar has been working with Huawei’s latest battery offering, the LUNA2000 solution, for several months already and sees this product as a strong value prospect for the German market.

“We believe that the Huawei LUNA2000 solution is closing a gap. We now have one system by one manufacturer which makes service and support easier for the installer and end customer,” says Stefan Rösch, product manager at Wagner Solar. “Huawei’s brand awareness in the consumer business and their reputation for constant innovation in the solar space, makes it easy to place in the German market.”

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Rösch points to a recent report published by EUPD Research that found 79% of end customers in Germany want to increase consumption of their self-generated electricity. Taking a system installed in the western German town of Schermbeck, as an example – where a 10 kWh LUNA2000 battery system accompanies Huawei SUN2000-8KTL-M1 inverters and 20 x 400 W PV modules, along with 12 x 450 Wp optimizers – he explains: “The typical customer in Germany has recently built or renovated their own house, and constantly optimizing their energy costs is a very important factor. So the main motivator to install a battery storage system is still electricity self-sufficiency. The LUNA2000 energy storage by Huawei makes this possible as it also includes optional backup power.”

Belgium: Storage subsidy leader

Belgium is among the first countries to offer a subsidy for the installation of residential energy storage systems. At up to €300/kWh, the scheme promises to reduce the payback period from seven to four years. “Without the LUNA battery the energy self-consumption for residential rooftop PV averages about 15%, and unused power is sold to the grid for 0.04 cents,” explains Robin Maes, founder of local installer MR Solar. “After installing the battery, the owner can raise self-consumption to 65-75% and use stored energy at night instead of buying at 0.25 cents.”

Maes expects similar subsidy models to be adopted across Europe in the near future, as more regions and system owners realize the added value of self-consumption. “Homeowners with solar systems need to store energy for use later into the evening,” he explains. “There is no time to waste energy by feeding it into the grid.”

MR Solar has chosen Huawei for several residential projects in Belgium, including one in the town of Beerse. Here a 10 kWh LUNA battery system was added to a solar installation already operating with Huawei three-phase inverters. And as demand for residential energy storage picks up, MR Solar expects Huawei to remain a key player in the industry and in successful installations. “Huawei FusionSolar provides an all-in-one solution – one service center for all your questions and warranty concerns, one energy storage solution, one inverter fits grid & backup operations, one optimizer, and one software to monitor your solar system,” Maes explains. “Together with easy plug and play installation, this brings great benefit to installer and home owner.”

Vietnam: Rooftop PV powerhouse

Vietnam has seen an unprecedented boom in rooftop solar recently, with installations in 2020 amounting to more than 9 GWp. In Ho Chi Minh City alone, local installer Red Sun Company estimates there are more than 200,000 houses with suitable rooftop conditions for solar, as well as a wealth of office buildings, apartment blocks, supermarkets, traditional markets, hospitals, schools and more.

Benny Diep, director of Red Sun Company, cites multiple reasons for Vietnam’s rooftop solar boom, in particular rising electricity prices, falling solar installation costs, and strong public awareness of both the benefits of residential solar and the need for environmental protection and emissions reduction.

Meanwhile, rising energy demand, falling feed-in-tariff rates and concern over grid constraints mean that adding energy storage is an increasingly attractive proposition in the country’s rooftop PV sector. “Vietnam’s energy consumption continues to grow as the economy recovers from the pandemic. Meanwhile, we have seen the PV market explode since 2020 to support this growth,” says Diep. “It is a great opportunity to start focusing on self-consumption and the application of energy storage solutions.”

To demonstrate the advantages afforded by incorporating energy storage into residential solar, Diep points to a 7.37 kW PV system Red Sun installed in Ho Chi Minh City, featuring Huawei’s Smart Energy controller, Smart String Energy Storage System and optimizers. The system was shown to generate 995 kWh per month on average, and the installer estimates the customer will recover their costs in less than five years.

Using Huawei optimizers to control shading impact increases the system’s energy yield by 15%-30% and allows modules with different capacities to be integrated in one string. the Smart String ESS is capable of 100% discharge, can charge from the grid, and means the system can provide power 24 hours a day: increasingly valuable for consumers in Vietnam concerned about rising prices. “The price of electricity after 400 kWh is very high,” explains Diep. “Therefore, solar power users want to be able to store electricity generated during the day to use at night, minimizing the amount of electricity used from the grid.”

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The Russian-Ukrainian war has dramatically intensified these challenges.

The Russian-Ukrainian war has dramatically intensified these challenges.

The Russian-Ukrainian war has dramatically intensified these challenges.

Prior to the conflict, Germany depended on Russia for about 55% of its natural gas imports, a vulnerability that became acute when Russian gas flows dropped to about a fifth of pre-war levels .

Title:

Content: A potent sign of Europe’s energy crisis can be found at the Marl Chemical Park in Germany’s industrial heartland of North Rhine-Westphalia. A coal-fired power plant that had been due to close by the end of this year will instead keep running through the winter, and beyond, to provide energy for the companies on the site — helping to maintain more than 10,000 jobs.

The power plant is owned by Evonik, one of Germany’s largest speciality chemical companies, which also runs the park. And its extended lifespan reflects the fears of power shortages in the country, as gas imports from Russia have been cut following its invasion of Ukraine. Governments and manufacturers across the continent have been introducing contingency measures to ensure power supplies continue during the colder months.

Many companies have turned to coal and other fossil fuels to keep their operations going. In Germany — which aims to phase out coal by 2030 because it is much more carbon-intensive than gas — the government has temporarily revived or extended the life of several coal-fired power plants. In addition, all three of the country’s remaining nuclear power plants, which had been due to shut down by December 31, will continue operating until mid-April 2023.

For energy-intensive industries, this power crisis is “very acute”, says Harald Schwager, deputy chair of Evonik. He likens the situation to a patient “at the doctor”, but while the “diagnosis is known, so is the therapy”. In this case, the therapy is improving supplies.

“We have a supply shock,” he says. “One [therefore] needs to find ways and means with investments into energy infrastructure so that the supply can be improved, and prices will then automatically come down.”

Engineers at Evonik, which makes products used in everything from toothpaste to tyres, started contingency planning in March. The company screened all of its production sites to determine how it could replace gas with other energy sources. Some of its smaller sites have since started using oil instead of gas but one of the biggest changes has been to keep the coal-fired power plant in Marl running until 2024.

One challenge, says Schwager, has been to ensure sufficient supplies of coal to operate the plant. Evonik has already stockpiled enough coal to keep the plant functioning over the coming winter months of 2022-23. While the price of coal has “gone up, the important thing is to make sure we can keep producing”, he adds.

The coal plant had been due to be replaced by a new gas-fired power station. Fortuitously, given the current concerns over natural gas supplies, that plant had also been equipped to burn other sources of fuel, including liquefied petroleum gas or LPG — a byproduct from refining crude oil. Using a pipeline connected to a nearby refinery owned by BP, Evonik has been able to pipe in LPG to help power the plant and reduce the amount of gas needed.

The net result of these measures is that Evonik has been able to reduce its natural gas needs by 40 per cent. Costs, however, have inevitably risen — the company’s energy bill has jumped roughly €500mn, says Schwager.

For chemicals groups, energy is just one of a number of costs that have risen this year amid wider inflation. However, Schwager is keen to stress that Evonik has maintained its financial outlook for the remainder of the 2022 financial year. Earlier this month, the company reported broadly in-line core profit for the third quarter as higher selling prices offset increased variable costs.

“Evonik has done a good job of cutting natural gas consumption,” says Sebastian Bray, chemicals analyst at Berenberg in London. “The company’s earnings have generally proven resilient. However, higher working capital requirements resulting from elevated energy and raw materials prices may make cash coverage of dividends in 2022 difficult.”

Evonik’s shares are listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, but it also has a large cornerstone investor. Germany’s RAG Foundation, which was set up to help finance the social costs and long-term liabilities associated with the ending of subsidised coal mining in 2018, holds a 56 per cent stake.

Not every large manufacturer has been able to adapt to the energy crunch in such a way, though. BASF, the world’s largest chemicals group by revenue and a significant user of natural gas for its processes, revealed in October that it had spent €2.2bn more on gas at its European sites in the first nine months of 2022 than it did in the same period last year.

Martin Brudermüller, BASF chief executive, said the European gas crisis, coupled with stricter industry regulations in the EU, was forcing the company to cut costs in the region “as quickly as possible and also permanently”. The cuts were necessary to “safeguard our medium- and long-term competitiveness in Germany and Europe,” he added.

Brudermüller is not alone in warning that the energy crisis will have a potentially devastating economic impact on Europe.

“Soaring energy prices are currently precipitating an alarming decline in the competitiveness of Europe’s industrial energy consumers,” the European Round Table for Industry said in a letter to the European Commission last month.

Schwager, however, who was a board member at BASF until 2017, plays down fears of disinvestment, stressing that chemical value chains are so interwoven that it would be difficult to disentangle them. German industry, he adds, has a “task in front of us, we have the toolbox to hike energy efficiency”.

Nevertheless, he concedes that investment into energy-intensive “upstream areas”, such as new power plants, will be more likely happen in other regions where energy is cheaper. Europe, he says, will attract investment into innovation for “downstream” products closer to the customer.

The chemical industry, he suggests, needs “massive investment” for the long term: “[The idea that] we will all run off and go somewhere else, that just won’t happen — we think in decades, and we want our investments to keep running for decades.”

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The upper house of Germany's parliament signed off on a number of major legislative packages on Friday aimed at helping address inflation and soaring energy costsImage: Wolfgang Kumm/dpa/picture alliance
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Germany approves welfare reform, extends nuclear power

2 hours ago

Germany's upper house of parliament approved measures aimed at helping people hit hard by high energy prices and the high cost of living. The country's nuclear power extension will also take effect immediately.

https://p.dw.com/p/4K5HV

The upper house of Germany's parliament, the Bundesrat, approved extending the use of three nuclear power plants, overhauling unemployment benefits and other major legislation on Friday after heated debate among lawmakers.

After receiving approval from the Bundesrat, the measures will soon enter into law. DW breaks down what's set to change in 2023.

Nuclear power extension

The Bundesrat signed off on the extension of three nuclear power plants after the lower house, the Bundestag, approved the move earlier this month.

The nuclear plants — Isar 2, Neckarwestheim 2 and Emsland — will remain operational until April 2023 to provide enough power through the winter. The facilities had been slated to close at the end of this year under Germany's nuclear phaseout plans.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz decided to extend the life of the nuclear plants after Germany found itself facing a severe energy shortage. Russia turned off supplies of gas in response to the backlash over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The extension was bitterly debated among Scholz's center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the environmentalist Greens and the pro-free market Free Democrats (FDP).

With Friday's approval from the upper house, the nuclear power plant extension will take effect immediately.

Germany set to keep nuclear plants running

Unemployment reform

Germany is set for a major welfare overhaul after the Bundesrat signed off on a compromise to reform unemployment benefits.

The changes will go into effect as of January 1, 2023, replacing the current and frequently criticized "Harz IV" unemployment benefits system that has been in place since 2005.

Under the new "Bürgergeld" system (which means "citizen's money"), those who are unemployed will get higher benefits and better vocational skills training.

The initial proposal by Scholz's government was rejected by conservative lawmakers in the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) bloc. Under the compromise, benefits could be cut during a six-month "trust period" if an unemployed person is deemed to not be looking hard enough for work.

According to the plans, those receiving benefits will also get more support in job training programs to prepare for permanent employment. The change also is an attempt to mitigate the shortage of skilled workers Germany is currently experiencing.

"This reform is a milestone of social policy in Germany," Scholz told the magazine Focus on Friday after the votes. "This reform put assistance for untrained people who belong to the long-term jobless front and center."

The measure must still be signed by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, although nearly all measures approved by the Bundesrat are signed-off by the president.

More money for Germany's unemployed?

Tax relief, higher child benefits

With inflation hitting consumers hard, lawmakers approved measures aimed at softening the blow.

The upper house approved legislation that would help people who receive pay raises that adjust for inflation. The new measures would prevent people having to pay more taxes due to pay raises.

Starting in January 2023, child benefit payments will also be raised. Families will now receive €250 ($260) per month for each child in the household.

The change is a big jump from the current system, which saw parents receive €219 per month for their first and second child, €225 per month for a third child, and €250 for each additional child.

More support for renters

The upper house of parliament also greenlit a law that seeks to help renters deal with skyrocketing heating costs.

Starting from January 1, renters will no longer have to shoulder the costs of heating with oil and natural gas — landlords and property owners will have to chip-in as well.

For buildings that are not energy efficient and produce a high proportion of CO2 emissions, landlords will need to pay more — and not the renters.

In addition, more people in low-income households will receive a housing allowance from the government. The expansion to the law means 1.4 million households are eligible for the payments, as opposed to the current 600,000 households that qualify.

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

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Content: Germany and SA to work together in implementing just transition projects

Germany and South Africa have agreed that, because of their similar fossil fuel use challenges, they would benefit from a relationship based on cooperation and mutual learning.

During a high-level round-table discussion on Just Energy Transition and Climate Action, German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck said Germany was setting up climate and energy partnerships around the world, including in Africa, to support its decarbonisation plans, which included the large-scale importation of green hydrogen.

The two parties discussed issues of development cooperation, including climate change, energy, training and skills development.

Habeck encouraged South Africa to let go of fossil fuels to gain an advantage in seeking to secure green investment, for more renewable resources.

Germany’s energy challenge

He added that the two countries could assist each other to overcome the challenges of power shortages and embrace renewables. This is despite Germany’s failure to let go of fossil fuels. Reports suggest that coal-fired power plants across Germany were being given new life after Russia cut gas supplies. This opens up questions on Germany’s motives for funding a just transition when it is pursuing energy from fossil fuels.

Habeck insisted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had underlined the risks of being too dependent on both a single country and on fossil fuels for energy.

He added that the war had encouraged Germany to speed up its strategy to phase out its use of oil, gas and coal, despite world pressures to secure them for use in the short term.

Germany was pursuing its own energy transition — referred to as “energiewende”. In a statement, he said Germany had been facing difficulties similar to those in South Africa which could form the basis for enhanced cooperation and mutual learning. The European nation is planning to be off coal by 2030, according to it’s cabinet.

Jochen Flasbarth, state secretary in the federal ministry for economic cooperation and development added that South Africa’s decision to embark on a path of green growth and to tackle the problems of energy supply, unemployment and inequality had their full support.

“We are engaged as partners offering support to make this just energy transition a reality and to deliver tangible results for those left out for too long.”

Mutually beneficial relationship

Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel, speaking at the fourth German-African Business Summit in Sandton on Wednesday, said Africa was seeking to build mutually beneficial partnerships to bolster its manufacturing output in “greener and more sustainable ways”.

Patel added that, while Africa was home to 17% of the world’s population, it made up only 3% of global GDP and 2% of global manufacturing.

To attract investment, Patel said African countries needed to promote political stability, the rule of law and intra-African trade and investment, while developing skills and modern infrastructure, including reliable energy supplies.

He also called for greater support from German investors in Africa, including to promote higher levels of manufacturing and minerals value addition.

“While this is vital for Africa, it is an opportunity for Germany too.

“First, this will provide opportunities for German businesses to invest in an expanding African manufacturing sector and to strengthen your own local manufacturing capabilities, and many German companies are already doing that.

“This is particularly important given the experience of supply-chain disruptions and vulnerabilities during the pandemic and as a result of geopolitical tensions,” Patel said.

Habeck added that the South African context was unique because, “I believe the existing and growing supply gap of electricity can be closed with renewable energy sources much faster and cheaper. That way, South Africa can be a global frontrunner in modernising its electricity system.”

Germany’s pledge

Last month, Germany extended R180 million to South Africa’s renewable programmes to shift from coal to clean energy as part of the $8.5 billion pledged at COP26, along with France, the UK, US and EU.

The discussions heard that part of the grant funding by German development bank KfW would be used to build a wind turbine on the Cape Peninsula University of Technology campus for the training of technicians.

In September, Eskom, the South African Renewable Energy Technology Centre and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet signed a partnership agreement for the development of the Komati Training Facility.

Habeck said the approach being pursued by the German government was premised on creating new markets and industrial opportunities that included climate action.

Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy said that COP27 had emphasised the need for increased momentum to reform the “multilateral development banks and international financial institutions” and called on the shareholders of these institutions to “take decisive action to scale up climate finance in 2023 and make their institutional arrangements fit for purpose”.

As a result of the negotiations, commitments for German-South Africa mutual cooperation were made for renewable energy and energy efficiency; sustainable urban development; technical and vocational education and training; trade; sustainable infrastructure and biodiversity.

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The war and subsequent sanctions forced Germany to urgently diversify its energy sources, leading to emergency measures such as reactivating coal-fired power plants, seizing Russian-owned oil refineries, and urging citizens to conserve energy .

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Content: Battery storage on a capacity market

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Why a German capacity market?

With the German Kraftwerksstrategie, which also includes the agreement of a technology-independent capacity market, the German government is focusing on ensuring a fully renewable electricity system. The capacity market uses long-term contracts for available generation capacity (paid in €/kW) to ensure that there is sufficient energy available at every hour of the year to meet demand even in rare exceptional cases. One thing is certain: with increasing shares of renewable energies and the coal phase-out, controllable generators and storage systems are needed to keep production and consumption in balance. A recently published study by Frontier Economics shows that battery storage can reduce the need for gas-fired power plants in Germany by 9 GW, saving billions in construction and operating costs for 18 additional power plants and emissions of up to 6.2 million tons of CO2.

International experience in Belgium, the UK, Poland and Italy

Capacity markets have been successfully introduced in various European countries in recent years. After the UK took the lead in 2014, central capacity markets have been implemented in Belgium, Italy, Poland and Ireland. In Spain, a capacity market is currently in the legislative process. In the EU, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) sets the framework for the use of capacity mechanisms, while the final decision on this rests with the Member States and the European Commission.

The design of the capacity markets in the various European countries is therefore subject to a similar structure: in a central annual auction, a fixed amount of capacity is demanded by a central authority, similar to the transmission system operator in the UK and Poland. This capacity can be offered, for example, by power plants, storage facilities or through demand response.

The capacity markets in the UK and Belgium, for example, follow this central principle (see table). In contrast, the French model, in which the capacity in demand is procured in a decentralized manner and in which the individual energy suppliers are obliged to purchase capacity certificates from power plants and other electricity producers, has not yet been able to establish itself.

The annual auctions take place four years (T-4) or one year (T-1) in advance of the start of the respective contract term. The term of the capacity contracts ranges from one year for existing plants to 15 to 17 years for new plants. This is meant to provide the latter with the necessary investment security over the financing period of the project.

During the term of the contract, all plants receive a fixed remuneration per megawatt per year based on the auction result. In return, they must be available during this period and are subject to certain physical or financial requirements depending on the structure of the respective market. Emission limits stipulate that coal-fired power plants and other plants with high CO2 emissions cannot participate in the capacity markets. This can also create incentives for natural gas power plants to switch to hydrogen.

Key points of a successful German capacity market

In order to avoid risks of mismanagement, misincentives and unnecessary costs, a well-thought-out and efficient capacity market design is essential. This can, for example, avoid the risk of so-called windfall profits going to power plants that do not need support or of power plants being artificially kept alive that would otherwise be eliminated from the market.

Experience from the capacity markets already implemented in Europe shows that the capacity market design to be created for Germany must take the following key aspects into account to be successful: firstly, the derating factor, secondly, the handling of plant availability and refinancing, and thirdly, the local distribution of the participating plants. The contract terms and auction horizons as well as options for mapping plant degradation and, finally, the choice of auction format between “pay-as-bid” or “pay-as-cleared” are also important.

DescriptionGreat BritainIrelandItalyPolandBelgium
Auction frequencyYearly auctionsYearly auctions~Yearly auctionsYearly auctionsYearly auctions
Planning period4 years (T-4) Main auction

1 year (T-1) top-up

4 years (T-4)

1 year (T-1) or 2 years (T-2)

Up to 4 years (T-4) Mother auction

Up to 3 years (T-3) Adjustment auction

5 years (T-5)

1 year (T-1) Supplementary auction

4 years (T-4)

1 year (T-1)

Contract duration15 years (T-4)

1 year (T-1)

10 years (new builds T-4)

1 year (existing, T-1 or T-2)

15 years (new builds)

1 year (existing capacities)

17 years (new and low emissions)

1 year (existing units)

15 years (new), 8 years (retrofit), 1 year (existing)
SettlementPlants in CM are paid a clearing price (£/MW) per yearPlants receive a yearly Premium (£/MW or €/MW) per yearPlants receive a yearly Premium (€/MW) per yearPlants receive a yearly Premium (€/MW) per yearPlants receive a yearly Premium (€/MW) per year
Total Auctioned Capacity43.9 GW7.2 GW65 GW7 GW1.5 GW
Auction clearingPay-as-clearPay-as-clearPay-as-clearPay-as-clearPay-as-bid
BESS Capacity participation in CM1.1 GW35 MW1.1 GW1.7 GW404 MW
First Capacity Auction

First Capacity Auction with BESS participation

Auction 2014; Delivery 2018/2019

Auction 2017; Delivery 2021/2022

Auction 2018; Delivery 2022/2023

Auction 2020; Delivery 2024/2025

Auction 2019; Delivery 2022/2023

Auction 2020; Delivery 2023/2024

Auction 2018; Delivery 2021(existing) 2023 (New)

Auction 2022; Delivery 2027

Auction 2021; Delivery 2025/2026

Auction 2021; Delivery 2025/2026

Derating factor

The derating factor enables the participation of different generation and flexibility options in the capacity market. It indicates what percentage of the nominal output of a particular technology is remunerated by the capacity market and thus serves, for example, to make the contribution of battery storage systems with different storage durations to system security comparable. Depending on the capacity and the selected operating mode, a storage system can provide a given output for different lengths of time (for example 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours).

Determining derating factors should be based on how likely it is that a particular technology will be available during the most critical bottleneck hours of a year or quarter. In “mature” or well-established capacity markets such as MISO (Midcontinent Independent System Operator) in the USA, 4-hour batteries have been shown to be as reliable as gas or coal-fired power plants during the 3 percent (262 of 8,760) most critical bottleneck hours of a year, and have a derating factor of over 90%. The reason for this is that of the 262 most critical bottleneck hours, hardly more than 4 hours were consecutive, giving batteries time to recharge. In addition, batteries are less prone to failure than thermal power plants and have an availability advantage.

About the authors

Johannes Müller is a member of the German Green Party and the Committee on Economic Affairs and Innovation and the Committee on Environment, Climate and Energy.

Kilian Leykam is responsible for Aquila Clean Energy's storage investments in the EMEA region and has been working in the renewable energy sector since 2009. Before joining the Aquila Group in 2020, he was responsible for strategy and business development at Vattenfall Energy Trading.

Lennard Wilkening is co-founder and CEO of Suena, a software-based flexibility trading company that offers optimization and trading services for large-scale energy storage and renewable energies.

Elena Müller works as Founders Associate & Communications Manager at Suena, where she focuses on energy policy, the energy transition and the role of energy storage in the energy transition.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.

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The government also temporarily extended the operational life of the last three nuclear reactors until April 2023 to ensure energy security during critical winter months .

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Germany’s Energy Risks Are Fading, For Now

  • Falling gas prices and high inventories have restored economic optimism across Europe.
  • German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the country is now rejiggering supply chains that will increase capacity for LNG imports at major ports.
  • Germany's Economic Ministry warns that though the country is reducing dependence on Russian gas, there are risks later this year that storage could sink to dangerously low levels.

Some European politicians and economists are breathing a sigh of relief after mild temperatures, increasing liquefied natural gas shipments, and above-average natural gas stockpiles have so far averted a worsening energy crisis this winter. Other politicians believe the energy crunch won't be over for many years.

"Gas storage is up and gas prices are down. Inflation is falling and uncertainty is declining," Deutsche Bank AG wrote in a note this week, adding, "We can afford to be more optimistic."

As of late, Europe's biggest economy, Germany, has seen an improvement in business outlook as recession fears recede, according to data from the Ifo Institute, a Munich-based economic researcher.

Ifo President Clemens Fuest told Bloomberg TV:

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"The most important risk for the German economy was a gas-rationing scenario ... and that risk is off the table now."

There's a lot to be happy about in Europe: Dutch front-month NatGas, the continent's benchmark, slid as much as 5% to 55 euros a megawatt-hour today, the lowest level since late 2021. Prices have collapsed by more than 83% since peaking at 311 euros a megawatt-hour last August.

However, the optimism could be short-lived because Germany is years from entirely substituting Russian NatGas flows with LNG shipments.

Last week, Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Bloomberg that German learned a hard lesson in its addiction for cheap Russian NatGas. He said the country is now rejiggering supply chains that will increase capacity for LNG imports at major ports.

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A new report via the country's Economy Ministry shows Germany will install 56 billion cubic meters of domestic LNG import capacity by 2026. By 2030, capacities will increase to 76.5 billion cubic meters or about 80% of total German NatGas consumption in 2021.

The ministry pointed out that even though current NatGas storage facilities are above normal levels, there are mounting risks later this year that storage could sink to dangerously low levels and result in shortages.

"The truth is, there won't be enough in the next three to four years of LNG production capacity in the world to meet the growing demand. So the unspoken strategy is that Germany will continue to pay crazy prices and other, less rich countries go empty-handed," Christian Leye, a Bundestag Left Party representative, told Bloomberg.

Germany has reduced its dependence on Russian NatGas by importing LNG from other EU countries and increasing NatGas pipeline flows from Norway and the Netherlands. Germany didn't have a choice after explosions rocked Nord Stream last year. An issue we see is that Germany's NatGas storage was filled last summer when Russian NatGas was still flowing -- not so much anymore.

Deutsche Bank expects EU NatGas prices to fluctuate between 50 and 100 euros a megawatt-hour this year. It's only a matter of time before the temporary relief evaporates and the energy crisis resurfaces.

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Home > News > Germany lied about nuclear energy: expert

Germany lied about nuclear energy: expert

The German government misled its citizens about the possible extension of nuclear power plants, Jakub Wiech, deputy Editor-in-Chief of Energetyka24.com, wrote on Saturday. According to him, all indications are that Berlin’s aim was to close the units regardless of the risks.

He cited Simon Wakter, a Swedish nuclear engineer, who presented a series of materials on his social media showing that Berlin’s narrative on the nuclear issue was getting the truth wrong. As the journalist pointed out, Mr Wakter “has collected statements by German politicians and energy scientists from recent months, juxtaposing them.”

“In his reasoning, Mr Wakter cites, among other things, the German government’s key argument regarding nuclear fuel. Berlin claimed that extending the operation of the nuclear power plants was impossible due to the lack of contracted fuel rod supplies. However, according to Die Welt, there was a confidential meeting between ruling coalition politicians and representatives of nuclear plant operators in March 2022,” Mr Wiech wrote.

As he continued, at the meeting the latter stated that they were able to organise deliveries within a “reasonable timeframe,” however, Berlin took no action in this regard, going further into the narrative of being unable to provide fuel input.

“On exactly 8 March, the German government published a report listing the reasons why nuclear power plants can no longer operate. However, at the same time, those in power met with representatives of nuclear industry operators, who indicated solutions to the allegations made by the report,” Mr Wakter was quoted as saying by the journalist.

“As additional evidence, he points to a statement by a spokesman for Preussen Elektra, who says that the Isar nuclear power plant, one of the last three units of its type in Germany, can continue to operate beyond 31 December 2022 – and without additional supplies of nuclear fuel. Berlin’s argument in this regard has been shown to be a simple lie,” Mr Wiech wrote.

As he added, according to an opinion poll from spring 2022, the majority of Germans (65 percent) see nuclear power as part of measures aimed at meeting EU climate targets.

“So, as it turns out, the German government’s key arguments for shutting down nuclear power (lack of fuel and public opposition) turned out to be lies. One may wonder why Berlin is pushing so desperately to extinguish these units – despite the energy crisis,” Mr Wiech concluded.

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Content: A view from Germany on war and the climate crisis

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock is in SA this week for the two-yearly meeting of the two countries’ Binational Commission. She answered questions from the Sunday Times ahead of her visit

25 June 2023 - 00:00 By ANNALENA BAERBOCK
Award winning Mercedez1 The production line in Mercedes Benz SA's award-winning plant in East London.
Image: Theo Jeptha

South Africa is an international heavyweight and, since the end of apartheid, has been one of the leaders of the continent. Therefore, the most pressing global topics will be high on our agenda, such as our common fight against the climate crisis and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which has painful effects on both Europe and Africa.

But we also have ambitious plans to intensify relations between our two countries: my visit marks the meeting of our Binational Commission, created by Nelson Mandela during his time in office in the spirit of shaping our common future together. In the margins of this year’s meeting, we will sign agreements on co-operation in vocational training as well as green hydrogen. When we talk about deepening German-South African relations, we mean business.

ON RUSSIA'S WAR AGAINST UKRAINE

I do not believe in Cold War thinking. We live in a multipolar world, which is held together by a set of rules ensuring our peaceful coexistence, called the UN Charter, to which our countries are committed.

Russia broke those rules. It invaded its smaller neighbour Ukraine with the aim of erasing it as an independent state. Every day it is bombing schools, hospitals, power stations. It has killed thousands of innocent civilians and willingly caused a global energy and food crisis.

I understand that in a country about 9,000km away some may ask: why do you expect us to get involved? Similarly, not everyone in my country follows current affairs in Mozambique or the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). But I encourage everyone to ask themselves: what reaction would I expect from the international community if this war took place in my neighbourhood? Each country must decide how to respond to this breach — do we uphold the rules that protect us all? Or do we allow such behaviour to become the new norm? I don’t see how that would be in any country's interest.

The African peace initiative can be a good opportunity to bring South Africa’s weight to bear. South Africa's voice matters on the international stage: when the country of Mandela and Desmond Tutu speaks out against injustice, the world listens.

ON OUR ECONOMIC RELATIONS

Your country is Germany’s most important trade and investment partner on the African continent. More than 500 German companies are invested in South Africa, among them BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen. Together they create more than 100,000 jobs and account for about 10% of South Africa's exports in manufactured goods.

The reason for that is not just South Africa's well-skilled workforce. South Africa is living proof that democracy, a free and outspoken media and an independent judiciary are the best guarantees for investors. When democracies work together, everyone stands to benefit, not just politically but economically.

It is no secret that high crime, social injustice and corruption are worries for prospective investors in any country. Many businesses in South Africa have also been affected by the energy crisis, and this is holding back investment in new production sites. That is why our two countries put so much emphasis on co-operation in developing green energy projects.

Annalena Baerbock, federal minister for foreign affairs of Germany.
Image: Henry Nicholls/ WPA Pool via Getty Images

ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS

For many years my country wasted precious time by failing to tackle the phase-out of coal in parallel with the expansion of renewable energies. This neglect is now costing us dearly as we are forced to move ahead at twice the speed. But even Russia's war has not pushed us off track: yes, we had to temporarily reactivate a handful of coal plants we had held in reserve, to keep families warm in the freezing winter.

But Germany is moving full steam ahead with its green energy transition. We are making a substantial investment in in renewables, and are sticking to our target of exiting coal- and gas-based power generation by 2030. Last month, 66% of our electricity came from renewables, a new record.

We know from experience that the transition is not always easy. Coal mining was an important employer in my home state, and it took years to build a consensus on a phase-out plan that protects workers' livelihoods, creates new business opportunities and allows us to meet our climate goals.

But the climate crisis does not wait for us. And the injustice is that many of the poorest countries, including in Africa, are hit hard by its effects even though they have contributed little to it. Nonetheless, saving our planet requires us all to phase out fossil fuels and switch to renewables as soon as possible.

That is why Germany and other international partners are supporting South Africa with a “just energy transition partnership”. The good news is: renewables are not only the best way to save our planet, they are also the cheapest and quickest way to generate additional energy and end the energy crisis in South Africa.

ON GREEN HYDROGEN

From my perspective, South Africa is in a unique position to benefit from the green hydrogen boom. There are few countries with better climate conditions and comparable home-grown expertise and technology. As the world is transitioning towards green energy, it thirsts for green hydrogen — and is willing to pay a lot of money for it.

Germany and other European countries are diversifying their energy supplies at record speed because Russia decided to use its oil and gas as an economic weapon against us. The South African economy stands to gain a profitable new export sector and to create thousands of jobs. Last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa and Chancellor Olaf Scholz launched a landmark project on green hydrogen-based aviation fuels, and we are working to make sure that is only the beginning.

The climate crisis is the biggest driver of conflict and the greatest security threat to the world. That is why we all, and especially industrialised countries, have a responsibility to do everything in our power to contain and mitigate it while there is still time

ON EQUAL RIGHTS

Racism, xenophobia and far-right extremism are poison for all democracies. Wherever they rear their heads, it is the responsibility of free societies to push back with determination. Especially when societies come under pressure from war, inflation or economic uncertainty, extremists and autocrats find fertile ground for their divisive slogans.

That is why it is important for those who believe in peace, equal rights and tolerance to work together. I am convinced that, in the 21st century, a modern foreign policy must include standing up for equal rights, not just for men and women, but for all people regardless of gender, race, religion or sexual orientation, as well as addressing the legacy of colonialism. That is at the centre of our concept of feminist foreign policy, and my South African colleague Naledi Pandor and I see eye to eye on these topics.

ON SECURITY IN AFRICA

Africa and Europe are neighbours, therefore Africa’s security is also Europe’s security. When conflicts rage on the African continent, we feel the effects in Europe, just as African countries feel the effects of Russia starting a war of aggression in Europe. Thus, the fighting in Sudan, the deteriorating security situation in the Sahel region and the repeated cycles of violence in eastern DRC — to name a few — worry me and my European colleagues.

At the same time, the AU and other regional organisations have shown success in finding African solutions for African problems and have developed unique expertise and experience in mediation and conflict resolution, which we try to support where we can. That is why there was never a question in my mind that Germany should support the AU’s long-standing request for membership in the G20.

Naturally, military action is only one piece of the sustainable stability puzzle. We know that the climate crisis is the biggest driver of conflict and the greatest security threat to the world. That is why we all, and especially industrialised countries, have a responsibility to do everything in our power to contain and mitigate it while there is still time.

The energy crisis triggered by the war has had severe economic consequences.

The energy crisis triggered by the war has had severe economic consequences.

The energy crisis triggered by the war has had severe economic consequences.

Germany reported its first trade deficit since 1991 in May 2022, largely due to surging energy import prices .

Title:

Content: Renewable Energy Market Projected to Reach USD 2.4 Trillion, at a 10.10% CAGR by 2030 – Report by Market Research Future (MRFR)

Renewable Energy Market Growth Boost by Rising Technological Advancement, Revenue Statistics, Major Stakeholders and Developments

New York, New York, UNITED STATES

New York, US, May 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to a Comprehensive Research Report by Market Research Future (MRFR), “Renewable Energy Market Information By Type, By End-Use, and Region - Forecast till 2030", between 2022 and 2030, the renewable energy market can expect to expand from USD 1.2 Trillion in 2022 to USD 2.4 Trillion at a rate of 10.10%.

Renewable Energy Market Overview

Renewable energy, sometimes called clean energy, is typically produced from renewable natural resources. Electricity is produced from kinetic energy sources using wind energy, a renewable energy source. The wind energy is transformed into mechanical energy by a wind turbine, and then into electrical energy by a generator. Both offshore and onshore wind energy sources are possible. On-land wind turbines are known as onshore wind energy, and offshore wind turbines are found in the ocean or sea.

Renewable energy is produced by using renewable natural resources like wind and sunlight. Some of the main renewable energy sources are solar, geothermal, wind, bioenergy, hydropower, and ocean power. Currently, heating, power, cooling, and transportation all use renewable energy. Around 7% of the world's energy needs are met by renewable energy sources. Compared to fossil fuels, renewable energy is generally more expensive. The primary driver of the use of renewable energies is the belief that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are to blame for global warming.

Market Competitive Landscape:

The important firms in the market for renewable energy include

  • ABB Ltd.
  • General Electric (GE)
  • The Tata Power Company Limited (Tata Power)
  • Innergex
  • Enel Spa (Enel)
  • Xcel Energy Inc. (Xcel Energy)
  • Among others.

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To reduce the cost of producing renewable energy, key industry players are concentrating on technology development and innovation. Additionally, market participants are putting a number of strategic initiatives into practise to strengthen their position in the industry.

Renewable Energy Market COVID 19 Analysis

Investments made by people and small to medium-sized businesses in renewable energy applications, like distributed PV, solar thermal water heaters, heat pumps, and biomass boilers, are in danger because of Covid-19. Compared to large-scale initiatives, these investments have a larger risk of delay or even cancellation.

Currently, lockout procedures prohibit access to homes and businesses, which has hindered the implementation of distributed solar PV in many nations. Additionally, people and small companies may decide to postpone or cancel their plans to install solar PV, solar thermal water heaters, or heat pumps on their land if they are experiencing financial hardship or economic uncertainty.

Report Scope:

Report Metrics Details
Market Size 2030 2032: USD 2.4 Trillion
CAGR during 2022-2030 10.10% CAGR
Base Year 2021
Forecast 2022-2030
Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends
Segments Covered Type, End-Use and Region
Key Market Opportunities Technological advancements to boost market growth
Key Market Dynamics Increased investments by government Decline price of renewable energy

Browse In-depth Market Research Report (188 Pages) on Renewable Energy Market:

https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/renewable-energy-market-1515

Renewable Energy Market USP Covered:

Market Drivers:

The transition to low-carbon fuels and the existence of strict environmental legislation in the majority of developed nations have given the renewable energy sector a significant boost. Due to increased environmental concerns and pressure to lessen the adverse impacts of Greenhouse Gases (GHG), the energy-generating market has seen an increase in the installed capacity of renewable sources over the past few years. This has played a significant role in the growth of the solar and wind energy industries.

Due to favorable policies and plans, as well as the widespread availability of biomass feedstock, the renewable energy sector has been operating successfully in the majority of developed nations. The country's number of renewable energy facilities has expanded as a result of strict government emission limits. With the rising use of gas-based and renewable power sources in comparison to coal-based power generation, the energy landscape has been changing. End-users are anticipated to switch to installing hydropower systems as a result of increased electricity distribution costs, power outages brought on by problems in the main grid, and government incentive programs. The need for renewable energy is anticipated to increase as a result.

In order to become energy independent and less dependent on traditional sources like crude oil, coal, and others, the US has been investing in unconventional power production technologies during the past few years. The market for solar power generation has been expanding quickly over the past few years and is anticipated to continue doing so throughout the forecast period thanks to significant expenditures made in the production of renewable energy. Germany's internal energy source, the solar industry, enables each state to produce its own energy independently of any external fuel sources. In comparison to other energy sources, it is durable and provides flood control, pure drinking water, irrigation support, and inexpensive electricity.

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Market Restraints:

Building infrastructure for the development of new resources involves significant upfront investments. The price of producing power rises as a result of these investments, particularly in the early years. The first step for the developers is to identify places that are acceptable to the public, have good resources, and have access to transmission lines. Finding a potential solar site and assessing its suitability takes several years of observation. To install, run, and maintain the new technology, the staff must also receive training. Some cannot be optimized for performance until they have operated in specific climatic conditions. During the projection period, this factor is projected to slow the market's growth for renewable energy.

Renewable Energy Market Segmentation

Energy Type Insights

Hydropower, Wind Energy, Solar Energy, Bioenergy, Geothermal Energy, and Ocean Energy are the key types of Renewable Energy. During the projection period, 2022–2030, the solar energy renewable segment is expected to develop at the fastest rate. It dominated market growth in 2021. Solar panels are an excellent option for homes and businesses in sunny areas because they can convert sunlight directly into electricity. In order to function efficiently, solar panels need a lot of area, and their initial cost and ongoing upkeep can be high.

By End-Use

Industrial, residential, and commercial end users make up the renewable energy market segmentation. Residential was the largest market for renewable energy in 2021, and it is anticipated that it will increase at the fastest rate from 2022 to 2030. The market is expected to grow as geothermal heat pumps become more and more popular for use in residential heating systems. There will probably be a significant increase in the demand for geothermal energy along with the increase in electricity demand. The market's growth will probably be fuelled by this factor.

Renewable Energy Market Regional Insights

During the study period, the Asia Pacific renewable energy market will capture a phenomenal CAGR of 43.60%, after having touched a whopping USD 0.5 Trillion in 2021. Countries like China and India have seen a sharp rise in energy consumption as a result of increased investment in renewable energy projects.

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During the projection period in Asia-Pacific, the residential and industrial sectors are anticipated to use more energy. India too has a lot of room for expansion, but historically inconsistent economic conditions and legislation have resulted in a lower share of renewable energy in the country's total energy production. Since there have been more investments in renewable energy projects, India is one of the nations with the fastest development in the Asia-Pacific market.

Related Reports:

Renewable Energy Inverters Market Research Report Information by Product Type, Application and Region - Forecast till 2030

Remote Renewable Management Systems Market Research Report Information By Component, End Use and Region - Forecast till 2030

About Market Research Future:

Market Research Future (MRFR) is a global market research company that takes pride in its services, offering a complete and accurate analysis regarding diverse markets and consumers worldwide. Market Research Future has the distinguished objective of providing the optimal quality research and granular research to clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help answer your most important questions.

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The manufacturing sector, long reliant on cheap Russian gas, has faced competitiveness challenges, with some companies considering relocating production to countries with lower energy costs .

Economic Minister Robert Habeck warned of a potential "Lehman Brothers effect" in the energy market if gas supplies dwindle further, underscoring the risk of widespread economic disruption .

Title:

Content: Home » Greentech Hydrogen should do the trick – countries are fully committed to H2

Greentech Hydrogen should do the trick – countries are fully committed to H2

by admin

“Numerous interests must be taken into account and harmonized in the energy transition,” said Saxony-Anhalt’s Energy Minister Armin Willingmann (SPD) during an exchange with the respective heads of department for energy, environment and economy in Saxony-Anhalt’s state representation in Berlin on Monday. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck and State Secretary for the Environment Stefan Tidow (both Green) also attended the meeting.

According to Willingmann, there is a consensus that renewables must be expanded much more vigorously in the future in order to become more independent in the energy sector and at the same time strengthen climate protection.

NRW Transport Minister and Chairman of the Environment Ministers’ Conference (UMK), Oliver Krischer (Greens), said: “Between the environment, economics and energy ministerial conferences, there is a common understanding that the rapid expansion of renewable energies is crucial for a secure energy supply and for the achievement of climate protection goals.»

Bavaria’s Economics Minister and Chairman of the Economics Ministers’ Conference (WMK), Hubert Aiwanger (free voters), added: “In order to keep industrial value added in Germany, we need an internationally competitive industrial electricity price.”

Greentech Saxony-Anhalt: Chair of the Energy Ministers’ Conference

As the chairing state of the Energy Ministers’ Conference (EnMK) 2023, Saxony-Anhalt organized the meeting with the representatives of the UMK and WMK to exchange views on interdepartmental issues. The focus was on ways to ensure a secure and affordable energy supply and to expand the relevant infrastructure in an environmentally friendly way. In addition, the federal and state governments discussed options for further accelerating planning and approval procedures in the energy sector.

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In response to these pressures, Germany has accelerated its transition to renewables, aiming for 80% of electricity from renewables by 2030 and full renewable supply by 2035 .

Title:

Content: Three nuclear-fired power plants will be taken off the grid in Germany on Friday as part of the country's plan to end atomic power.

"The nuclear phaseout makes our country safer and helps to avoid radioactive waste," said Federal Environment and Nuclear Safety Minister Steffi Lemke.

"It is now essential to ... advance the search for a final repository for high-level radioactive waste as well as permanent solutions for low- and medium-level radioactive waste," the environment ministry said.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel speeded up the phaseout following the 2011 Fukushima accident in Japan.

Friday's shutdown affects power plants in Brokdorf in Schleswig-Holstein, Grohnde in Lower Saxony and Gundremmingen C in Bavaria.

Germany's remaining three nuclear plants — Emsland in Lower Saxony, Isar 2 in Bavaria and Neckarwestheim 2 in Baden-Württemberg — will be closed by the end of 2022 "at the latest," the environment ministry said.

"Since 2011, Germany has been drawing a line under a highly problematic technology in an orderly, reliable process," Lemke said.

Nuclear accounts for about 10 percent of Germany's electricity production. The shutdown has sparked criticism as Germany will have to dramatically ramp up renewable energy and has also increased its reliance on highly polluting coal-fired power.

"Security of supply in Germany continues to be guaranteed," said Robert Habeck, federal climate and economy minister. He added that reliable and "sustainably generated electricity" is a "central requirement for aligning our economy and industry toward climate neutrality."

That stance puts Berlin at loggerheads with France, where nuclear is the largest element of its energy mix (and also helps supply Germany).

EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said in September that existing nuclear plants, which provide low-carbon electricity essential to the green transition, can be kept running "for two, five, 10 years," adding: "Why deprive ourselves of this production capacity?"

France is planning to scale down the share of nuclear in its electricity mix from 75 percent to 50 percent by 2035, but President Emmanuel Macron said in November that France "will restart the construction of nuclear reactors" while "continuing to develop renewable energies."

Macron also said France will invest €1 billion into research and development, notably into small modular reactors.

Belgium recently decided to shut down all its nuclear power plants by 2025, but plans to invest €100 million in new generation nuclear reactors and research.

More from ... Louise Guillot

Title:

Content: Spanish renewable energy investor Qualitas Energy has concluded the acquisition of DunoAir’s German onshore wind development business.

Qualitas German subsidiary Qualitas Energy Deutschland has executed the deal and will increase its German platform capacity to 2.9GW.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Qualitas Energy partner and chief investment officer Daniel Parejo stated: “We are delighted to join forces with DunoAir, a company with which we share a commitment to the transition to a decarbonised economy.

“Qualitas Energy continues to invest in the acquisition of German and international renewable energy projects, and this represents a major step towards our goal of becoming one of the key platforms in the German market.”

Based in the city of Trier, DunoAir’s German onshore wind development business is focused on the planning and construction of wind power plants in Germany.

It currently has 1.4GW of development wind assets.

The German business of DunoAir will retain its organisational structure and brand.

DunoAir Group CEO Arjen Ploeg said: “We are proud to have built a company that has been recognised for its business strategy and industry-leading solutions. This acquisition represents a natural evolution for our business and allows us to expand our reach and impact.

“We are confident that this new partnership will drive even greater success for our stakeholders, and we look forward to joining forces with Qualitas Energy and to keep bringing our shared vision in the energy transition.”

The government is investing heavily in solar, wind, and hydrogen infrastructure, including billions for hydrogen-fired power plants as part of its strategy to phase out coal .

Title:

Content: Three nuclear-fired power plants will be taken off the grid in Germany on Friday as part of the country's plan to end atomic power.

"The nuclear phaseout makes our country safer and helps to avoid radioactive waste," said Federal Environment and Nuclear Safety Minister Steffi Lemke.

"It is now essential to ... advance the search for a final repository for high-level radioactive waste as well as permanent solutions for low- and medium-level radioactive waste," the environment ministry said.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel speeded up the phaseout following the 2011 Fukushima accident in Japan.

Friday's shutdown affects power plants in Brokdorf in Schleswig-Holstein, Grohnde in Lower Saxony and Gundremmingen C in Bavaria.

Germany's remaining three nuclear plants — Emsland in Lower Saxony, Isar 2 in Bavaria and Neckarwestheim 2 in Baden-Württemberg — will be closed by the end of 2022 "at the latest," the environment ministry said.

"Since 2011, Germany has been drawing a line under a highly problematic technology in an orderly, reliable process," Lemke said.

Nuclear accounts for about 10 percent of Germany's electricity production. The shutdown has sparked criticism as Germany will have to dramatically ramp up renewable energy and has also increased its reliance on highly polluting coal-fired power.

"Security of supply in Germany continues to be guaranteed," said Robert Habeck, federal climate and economy minister. He added that reliable and "sustainably generated electricity" is a "central requirement for aligning our economy and industry toward climate neutrality."

That stance puts Berlin at loggerheads with France, where nuclear is the largest element of its energy mix (and also helps supply Germany).

EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said in September that existing nuclear plants, which provide low-carbon electricity essential to the green transition, can be kept running "for two, five, 10 years," adding: "Why deprive ourselves of this production capacity?"

France is planning to scale down the share of nuclear in its electricity mix from 75 percent to 50 percent by 2035, but President Emmanuel Macron said in November that France "will restart the construction of nuclear reactors" while "continuing to develop renewable energies."

Macron also said France will invest €1 billion into research and development, notably into small modular reactors.

Belgium recently decided to shut down all its nuclear power plants by 2025, but plans to invest €100 million in new generation nuclear reactors and research.

More from ... Louise Guillot

Title:

Content: Spanish renewable energy investor Qualitas Energy has concluded the acquisition of DunoAir’s German onshore wind development business.

Qualitas German subsidiary Qualitas Energy Deutschland has executed the deal and will increase its German platform capacity to 2.9GW.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Qualitas Energy partner and chief investment officer Daniel Parejo stated: “We are delighted to join forces with DunoAir, a company with which we share a commitment to the transition to a decarbonised economy.

“Qualitas Energy continues to invest in the acquisition of German and international renewable energy projects, and this represents a major step towards our goal of becoming one of the key platforms in the German market.”

Based in the city of Trier, DunoAir’s German onshore wind development business is focused on the planning and construction of wind power plants in Germany.

It currently has 1.4GW of development wind assets.

The German business of DunoAir will retain its organisational structure and brand.

DunoAir Group CEO Arjen Ploeg said: “We are proud to have built a company that has been recognised for its business strategy and industry-leading solutions. This acquisition represents a natural evolution for our business and allows us to expand our reach and impact.

“We are confident that this new partnership will drive even greater success for our stakeholders, and we look forward to joining forces with Qualitas Energy and to keep bringing our shared vision in the energy transition.”

Germany is also increasing its liquefied natural gas (LNG) import capacity, with plans to boost imports from countries like Qatar by 2026 .

Title:

Content: Advertisement

What's inside Germany's first-ever national security strategy?

The Local Germany - [email protected]

Germany’s Cabinet on Wednesday adopted a national security strategy for the first time. From air defence to pandemic prevention, here's what the new plan entails.

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The document, prepared under the auspices of Germany’s Foreign Office, lays out measures to "strengthen our security against external threats".

Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, and the events that followed, greatly influenced many of the security strategies the government has outlined: "'Zeitenwende (changing times) is a determining factor here," the paper states.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) also highlighted the security strategy as an important contribution "to safeguarding the security of people in Germany in the face of a changed environment.”

So what does the new strategy entail?

The German government laid out a number of goals in its strategy,  which was released on the same day that Germany committed to spending nearly 4 billion to purchase an Arrow 3 air defence system.

READ ALSO: Germany approves funds to purchase nearly 4 billion air defence system

The first point was that Germany should reach NATO's two-percent spending target "on a multi-year average" - a longstanding goal which the country repeatedly struggled to achieve prior to the war in Ukraine.

Counterespionage, measures against sabotage and cyber defense are to be strengthened within the country, while defense technology is to be bolstered at the European level, it went on to say.

Furthermore, the paper stated, rules on arms export control are to be standardised across the EU.

The area of defense includes strengthening the Bundeswehr (Germany’s army), civil defense and civil protection, as the paper states. It goes beyond military measures to securing things like clean water supply and medicines in an emergency situation.

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Resilience involves defending "our free democratic basic order against illegitimate influence from outside,” it continued.

To this end, "one-sided dependencies in the supply of raw materials and energy" should also be reduced and supply relationships diversified, it said, pointing to an over-dependence on China and - prior to the outbreak of the war in Ukraine - Russia.

READ ALSO: Germany takes aim at China in first national security strategy

In the area of sustainability, the focus is on combating the climate, biodiversity and ecosystem crises, strengthening global food security and global pandemic prevention.

‘Security without compromise’

In adopting the strategy, the cabinet had made an unusual and important decision, Scholz said in a presentation Thursday alongside four other cabinet ministers.

The government’s central task is now to “ensure the security of its citizens without compromise,” the paper went on to say.

Germany should focus not just on its own government, but also forming transnational partnerships, added Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens).

"The security strategy will only work if we anchor it on a European and transatlantic level," said Baerbock.

She called for much closer cooperation with partners on other continents.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) stressed that Germany's security required a "360-degree perspective."

READ ALSO: How prepared is Germany in the event of a military attack?

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All governmental departments must make their contribution to this, he said, including Transport and Digital Affairs, and Education and Research.

Germany’s government had already agreed to draw up the strategy in their coalition agreement - that is, even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

However, the drafting of the strategy had repeatedly been delayed, among other things because of an ongoing row between Foreign Office and the Chancellor's Office about whether a National Security Office should be created. It was left out of the final draft.

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Title:

Content: Shut down the green agenda and go nuclear

Nuclear energy.

The very words conjure up images of nuclear disasters.  Three-Mile Island, Fukushima, and Chernobyl immediately come to mind.  After Chernobyl, the very thought of using nuclear energy on a large scale in America faded away.  What an awful mistake it was to discard nuclear power as a serious energy source.

The green agenda is what the American left is banking on as yet another means to control Americans and degrade their lifestyles in furtherance of their imaginary socialist Utopia.  It does not include nuclear energy.  As of 2022, only 19% of America's power comes from nuclear reactors.  That needs to change.  America needs more, not less, nuclear energy.  Many of our reactors will be decommissioned, and that should not happen unless they are structurally unsound.

From CNBC:

Nuclear power generation does not release any greenhouse gasses and is categorized as "clean" energy by the U.S Department of Energy. The United States is spending billions of dollars on nuclear power plants that are losing money because it needs that emission-free energy to meet decarbonization goals. Nuclear power plants generate 19% of the electricity in the U.S., according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. (Sixty-one percent comes from fossil fuels and 20% comes from renewables.)

So you see, even when nuclear energy is shown to be clean, the left wants nuclear plants to be closed down for not meeting "decarbonization goals."

But is that the real reason?  How can we use nuclear power if it's regulated into ineffectiveness because some people believe that zero carbon emissions is possible without seriously degrading the American lifestyle?

Maybe degrading the American lifestyle is exactly their goal; otherwise, why don't they ever mention nuclear power for our energy?

The leftist Great Resetters have clearly told us that they want us to "own nothing and be happy."  How do we "own nothing" unless someone takes what we do own away from us, which the left seem perfectly willing to do?  No air-conditioning except for Davos.  No air travel except for private luxury jets.  They will keep everything they own.  You?  Not so much.

Advanced modern European countries use significant nuclear energy, including Britain, Germany, and France, (at least until recently), with others building advanced nuclear reactors.  Nuclear is cheap, and it's clean.  What's not to like?  Do we ground airplanes because there were some crashes or because their emissions are horrible?  Do we close hospitals because epidemics rage on occasion?  Did we shut down meat-packing plants because the occasional contamination happens?  Do we close highways because tractor-trailer accidents kill dozens of people at a time?

Why take a perfectly good, easily implemented, cheap method of energy and shut it down forever?

Or maybe this anti-nuclear attitude is not about providing cheap, clean energy, but rather is yet another means to control the population.  The left rely upon fearful Americans remembering Chernobyl as a way to avoid talking about nuclear energy at all, because if nuclear energy is put into wider use in America, the left will lose their green climate agenda, the very thing they are relying upon to control American lives.

Decades ago, Rush Limbaugh warned that the left's "climate change" warriors would be the ones to subjugate the American populace through a green agenda: thermostats, food, cars, clothing, health care would all come under the "climate change" umbrella and would be the means by which we gave up our rights, willingly or unwillingly, to "save the planet."  He was, as usual, prescient.  Today, this is exactly what we are seeing.  Amid all the leftist rhetoric about "the planet" and "clean energy," you never hear them talk about nuclear.  Why is that?

Wakey-wakey, America — now is the time to go nuclear.  Congress, are you listening?  I propose that nuclear power be something the right examines as a paradigm shift in our thinking about how to get most of our cheap, clean energy.  Republicans need to stop accepting the leftist premise that the planet is on its last legs.

The left want green?  Give them green, as in "nuclear."

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License.

If you experience technical problems, please write to helpdesk@americanthinker.com

Title:

Content: Germany: Engine of Europe

Germany's much-vaunted trade surplus disappears as import prices surge

Key Points
  • Data released Monday showed that in May, Germany posted a foreign trade deficit of 1 billion euros ($1.03 billion).
  • This marks a significant moment for the German economy, which had reported trade surpluses for several decades.
  • Bloomberg reported that 1991 was the last time the country reported a monthly trade deficit.
Germany trade entered negative territory in May, raising questions about the stability of its economy in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

Germany is no longer exporting more than what it buys from other countries, highlighting the strains that the nation and other European economies are facing from surging energy and food prices.

Data released Monday showed that in May, Germany posted a foreign trade deficit of 1 billion euros ($1.03 billion). This marks a significant moment for the German economy, which had reported trade surpluses for several decades. Bloomberg reported that 1991 was the last time the country reported a monthly trade deficit.

Its high level of exports had been an important economic driver and the trade surplus was even attacked by former President Donald Trump, who wanted Americans to buy more U.S.-made products.

"Germany's vaunted trade surplus is gone," Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, said in a note Tuesday, adding that "higher prices for imports of energy, food and materials are goosing up the import bill."

Germany's exports in the month of May were still 11.7% higher than a year ago, according to the country's statistics office, though 0.5% lower from the previous month.

However, the imports bill went up by 27.8% from a year ago and it was no longer offset by its sales abroad.

VIDEO5:3105:31
Germany not expected to allow the repricing of gas contracts until later this month, analyst says

Germany — just like many other European nations — has been paying more for energy and food, particularly in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia, a key exporter of energy into Europe, reduced gas flows to the bloc, bringing new insecurities to the energy market and driving up prices.

In addition, Ukraine, an important exporter of wheat and other food-related items, has not been able to send its products abroad at the same rate as before the war. Farmers are also not able to sow and plant at the same rate as before either — potentially driving up food prices when harvest time comes.

GDP contraction?

The latest data comes at a time when more and more economists are talking of a recession in Europe within the next 12 months. In fact, the euro dropped to its lowest level in two decades against the U.S. dollar Tuesday morning as more investors price in a higher chance of economic turmoil down the line.

Chris Scicluna and Emily Nicol, two economists at Daiwa Capital, said that Germany's first trade deficit since 1991 reflects price shifts and ongoing export weakness.

"With the annual pace of increase in German import prices in May (30.6%Y/Y) almost twice the rate of export prices (15.9%Y/Y), Germany's trade balance was always bound to deteriorate," they said in a research note Monday.

"However, adjusting for shifts in relative prices, ongoing weakness in export volumes, in part related to supply constraints, has also played a role."

They added that the data suggests there is a "strong likelihood" that net trade subtracted from German economic growth in the second quarter, "and adding to the risks that German GDP contracted last quarter."

International partnerships, such as with South Africa for renewable and green hydrogen projects, reflect a broader strategy to diversify energy sources and enhance security .

Title:

Content: EU chaos! Macron and Scholz in furious bust-up over EU energy plans: ‘Risky and expensive'

FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are locked in a furious bust-up over EU energy policy plans as disagreements have sparked division in the bloc.

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Macron wields 'tools to set EU agenda'

While France has been pushing for nuclear to be included in the EU’s sustainable finance taxonomy, Germany is in the process of completely phasing out the energy source in the country. The EU’s taxonomy is intended to hand a green badge to companies and activities — or to withhold it — to “help shift investments where they are most needed". This is part of the bloc’s aim to direct funding towards energy sources with a low or zero carbon footprint.

But this has sparked fury as Germany does not view nuclear power as a form of clean energy.

Mr Macron wants gas and nuclear to be labelled as a “transitional” source under the taxonomy as he claims they are needed for the clean energy transition.

He says that this is because renewables are “intermittent, and thus not totally substitutable, even with our interconnections [in Europe], for non-intermittent sources of electricity production” like gas or nuclear power.

And these calls do not come as much of a surprise, given that 70 percent of French electricity is generated by nuclear power.

Mr Macron has pointed to the verdict from experts on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to back up his calls.

Macron and Scholz are in a furious energy bust-up (Image: Getty )

Emmanuel Macron is pushing for nuclear power to be included in the EU taxonomy (Image: Getty )

They claim that “nuclear power is one of the solutions to decarbonise our economies”.

And this seems to have convinced Brussels, as the EU Commission drew up a draft proposal, circulated on 31 December, for this to come into effect.

Subject to a consultation period until Friday (21 January), It gave EU members and others just three weeks to analyse the proposal and provide their own comments.

Germany is strongly opposed to the nuclear plans and has been phasing out nuclear power for over two decades.

It also plans to shut down its three remaining plants at the end of the year.

READ MORE: World holds breath as Ukraine to fire rocket amid Russia tension

Olaf Scholz's Government is opposed to the EU's proposal (Image: Getty )

But it is not Berlin who disapproves of the proposal.

The EU Platform on Sustainable Finance, a European Commission advisory body, has torn the proposal apart.

In an opinion piece, it argued that nuclear power is not an entirely clean energy source, and that fossil gas is “far from green”.

Under the EU’s draft proposal, gas-fired power plants would get a “transitional” investment label if they meet a certain criteria.

That is if they use “at least 30 percent of renewable or low-carbon gases as of 1 January 2026, and at least 55 percent of renewable or low-carbon gases as of 1 January 2030”.

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Germany argued nuclear is not a clean energy source (Image: Getty )

And as of January 1, 2036, the Commission said all gas-fired power plants would have to “switch to renewable or low-carbon gases” to qualify for the EU’s green investment label.

But under EU rules, no technology can be considered green if it causes “significant harm” to any of the taxonomy’s six environmental objectives.

Those are climate change mitigation and adaptation, water protection, the transition to a circular economy, pollution prevention, and biodiversity protection.

Germany has been kicking up a fuss over the proposals, calling them “risky and expensive” in a letter sent to Brussels.

Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said in a joint statement with Environment Minister Steffi Lemke: “As the federal government, we have once again clearly expressed our rejection of the inclusion of nuclear energy. It is risky and expensive."

Germany has also claimed that there is a lack of safety requirements in the nuclear field.

Robert Habeck sent a letter to Brussels slamming the proposal (Image: Getty )

And it argued that the lengthy construction of new reactors "does not offer a short-term opportunity" to phase out carbon-intensive energy sources such as coal.

But while it has poured cold water over nuclear plans, Germany does not seem so opposed to the inclusion of gas.

In the letter sent to Brussels, it reads that gas used in "ultra-modern and efficient gas-fired power plants forms a bridge for a limited transitional period".

But the German Government did mention that the proposed fuel switch targets to low-carbon and renewable gases laid out by the taxonomy proposal are not realistic.

And Mr Macron is travelling to Berlin today to meet with Mr Scholz.

While the leaders’ meeting will focus on the Russia’s mounting pressure on Ukraine, the energy plans will no doubt be a topic of conversation too.

Title:

Content: BayernLB and Danish export credit agency EKF have extended a €1bn facility to finance renewable energy supplier RWE’s investment in two offshore wind farms which will power the equivalent of 1.6 million homes in Germany and the UK.

Munich-headquartered BayernLB acts as the arranger, agent and lender on the loan, with EKF also acting as a direct lender, although a spokesperson for BayernLB declined to say how much each institution is providing.

The earmarked facility, signed and closed on December 13, is structured as an initial €500mn loan with options for a floating and fixed interest rate basis.

The funds will be used in RWE’s development of the Sofia wind farm at Dogger Bank in the North Sea, which will supply power to the UK, and Kaskasi near the German island of Heligoland, off Germany’s northwest coast. They will have a combined production capacity of 1.7 gigawatts (GW).

EKF is participating because Siemens Gamesa, the Spanish-German renewable energy firm, will produce equipment for the projects in Denmark.

Michael Müller, RWE’s chief financial officer, says the financing “diversifies our funding sources by adding a commercially attractive, replicable financing instrument to support our significant growth ambitions”.

EKF managing director Werner Grub says: “We are very pleased to have closed this agreement, where EKF is once again financing renewable energy projects with a total production capacity of more than 1.7GW.

“The loan gives RWE the flexibility required to implement wind energy on a large scale, and we are happy to play a role in this. We are also looking forward to the new collaboration with RWE.”

Law firm Dentons advised both lenders and Gorrissen Federspiel provided local advice to EKF. Freshfields acted as counsel to RWE.

In lending to the Sofia project, EKF joins a throng of European ECAs who have covered financing for wind power at Dogger Bank, a large sandbank around halfway between Denmark and the UK where a sprawling wind power project is being developed in phases.

ECAs from France, Norway and Sweden have backed facilities totalling around £8.5bn for other stages of the development, provided by commercial lenders including BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Barclays and Santander.

However, the transition is not without obstacles.

However, the transition is not without obstacles.

Bureaucratic hurdles and local opposition, particularly to onshore wind projects, slow the expansion of renewables .

Title:

Content: The European Union is positioning itself to be completely cut off from all Russian energy. And if that happens, Germany and other heavily import-reliant countries in Europe will suffer a Lehman Brothers-type collapse of its energy market.

Economic Minister and Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck issued a stark warning about how Europe’s largest economy faces total economic destruction should gas supplies run thin this winter, which they are expected to do.

“Companies would have to stop production, lay off their workers, supply chains would collapse, people would go into debt to pay their heating bills, that people would become poorer,” he is quoted as saying.

The Green Party politician actually described what is soon to come as “a king of Lehman Brothers effect in the energy market,” which would quickly spread like a contagion or virus throughout municipal utilities and both the industrial and commercial sectors of the economy.

“And then you have a domino effect that would lead to a severe recession,” he added.

Lehman Brothers, as you may recall, was the lynchpin of the 2008 global financial crisis, which sent Wall Street tumbling until the government decided that taxpayers needed to bail out the culprits whose greed and corruption caused the crisis in the first place.

“The impact of Lehman’s collapse was particularly widespread due to the interconnectedness of its balance sheets with other banks, insurance companies, hedge funds, and other financial institutions,” explains Breitbart News.

“Many believe that the U.S. government made a critical mistake in allowing Lehman to fail and that the failure worsened the crisis and subsequent economic calamity.”

The West is committing economic suicide while blaming Putin for it

Germany already faces a 60 percent reduction in natural gas from Russia, all because it refuses to pay for the energy in rubles demanded by Russia.

Had Germany and other Western powerhouses not imposed crippling economic sanctions against Russia over its “special operation” in Ukraine, Russia never would have changed the requirement that the West pays for gas in rubles – so the West only has itself to blame for what is now unfolding.

Instead of fixing the problem that they helped create, politicians in Germany are calling on the German people to pay for it by drastically reducing their energy consumption.

Germans are now expected to live within a model of extreme scarcity to cover for the failed economic policies of their elected leaders.

“Everyone in industry and in their home life can contribute to this – and yes, this also includes jumpers, shower heads, turning the heating down a bit, all of this helps,” Habeck says.

If Germans refuse to do this, then they will simply have to pay double or triple the cost of energy in the coming months, which will be absolutely devastating once winter arrives.

Should Russian energy stop flowing completely, then Germany will have less than three months of fuel left before a total collapse, warned Klaus Müller, head of the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) energy regulator.

“If the storage facilities in Germany were mathematically 100 percent full … we could do without Russian gas completely … for just about two-and-a-half months and then the storage tanks will be empty,” he is quoted as saying.

Germany was repeatedly warned in the past that its over-reliance on Russian energy could cause problems. Those problems are now emerging at a rapid pace and they threaten to destroy Europe’s largest economy in a matter of months.

Germany also could have avoided going “green,” which would have allowed it to become more energy independent. Instead, it opted to close its nuclear power plants, phase out coal, and hope for the best with just wind turbines and solar panels.

The latest news about the energy crisis and what is soon to come as a result of it can be found at Collapse.news.

Ethan Huff

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

NaturalNews.com

Related Posts

Title:

Content: EU Member States must take urgent action on NECPs and overriding public interest

On 30 June two significant deadlines passed. First, Member States had to submit their revised National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) to the European Commission. Second, Governments had to implement the permitting provisions under the new Renewable Energy Directive (REDIII). On both fronts Member States are lagging behind. They must take urgent action. Otherwise the EU’s 2030 energy and climate targets are at risk.

On 30 June all 27 Member States were due to submit the final version of their National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs). This comes after the European Commission had reviewed their draft plans. The NECPs outline the national strategies countries will apply to meet the EU’s 42.5% renewable energy target by 2030. The Plans include initiatives in policy areas such as electrification, permitting, research and innovation and others. But only six countries — Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, France and the Netherlands — have submitted their NECPs. That’s too little.

The NECPs are key for the deployment of renewables – Member States with sufficiently ambitious and credible Plans will attract more investments than others. Without visibility on future investments and clear national strategies the EU risks to miss its 2030 energy security and climate targets. It is crucial countries hand in their Plans as soon as possible.

Member States must make full use of “overriding public interest”

Permitting remains a major bottlenecks to the construction of new wind farms. Member States also had until the end of last month to implement the excellent permitting provisions under the new Renewable Energy Directive (REDIII). One of the most powerful RED III measures to improve permitting is the notion of “overriding public interest”. But only a handful of countries have implemented this in their national framework. Only Germany and Portugal have applied it in practice.

Germany was especially fast and determined in simplifying its permitting procedures and applying overriding public interest for renewable energy projects. And the results are impressive: Germany handed out 7.5 GW of new onshore wind permits in 2023, up from 4.2 GW in 2022 and 2021 and less than 2 GW in 2017-2019 respectively. And in the first quarter of 2024 Germany awarded permits for another 2.6 GW of new onshore wind projects already. Overriding public interest has helped to unblock projects that had been entangled in legal disputes. And it has made it easier for judges and permitting agents to support new wind energy projects when balancing different public interests.

The increase in new permits has had direct effects on auctions. The latest German auction around awarded 2.5 GW of wind projects. And Germany is now optimistic that they could award up to 10 GW of new onshore capacity in 2024.

“Most national Governments haven’t done their homework fast enough. Permitting is improving in some countries but EU-wide permitting volumes still fall short from what we need to reach the EU energy security and climate targets. Governments need to transpose the excellent new REDIII rules asap, especially overriding public interest. It’s one of the most powerful tools in toolbox. The German example has shown what’s possible. Other Governments need to follow suit and make full use of overriding public interest”, says Guy Willems, Advisor Environment & Community Engagement at WindEurope.

The need for substantial upfront infrastructure investments and ongoing volatility in energy prices due to global market conditions further complicate the transition .

Title:

Content: Meta removes Russian disinformation campaigns, Starlink extends service in Ukraine, and Germany proposes a renewable energy plan.

That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now, welcome to Hashtag Trending. It’s Tuesday, March 1st, and I’m your host, Pragya Sehgal.

Early this week Meta said it detected and removed two disinformation campaigns run by groups in Russia and Ukraine. One of the two campaigns was operated by Ghostwriter, a Russia-linked disinformation and hacking group, Business Insider reported. Ghostwriter gained access to people’s Facebook accounts and then posted disinformation. According to Meta, additional security was placed on targeted accounts and affected users were notified. The other campaign used a network of fake accounts belonging to fictitious people claiming to be based in Kyiv. Meta said the display photos for these fake accounts were most likely created using a type of AI called generative adversarial networks. On Friday, the company released advice for Ukrainian users on how to lock and secure their accounts.

Over the weekend, Elon Musk said that Starlink‘s internet service is active in Ukraine and that more terminals are being sent as Russian troops disrupt internet access. Musk made the move after a senior Ukrainian government official asked him to provide more Starlink stations to the country. The vice prime minister of Ukraine and minister of digital transformation tweeted: “While you try to colonize Mars — Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space — Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations.”

Germany aims to fulfil all its electricity needs with supplies from renewable sources by 2035, according to a government draft paper. The country has been under pressure from other Western nations to become less dependent on Russian gas. However, its plans to eliminate coal-fired power plants by 2030 and to shut its nuclear power plants by the end of 2022 have left it with minimal options. Germany’s economy minister has described the accelerated capacity expansion for renewable energy as a vital element in making the country less dependent on Russian fossil fuel supplies, Reuters reported. The government draft paper revealed that the corresponding amendment to the country’s Renewable Energy Sources Act is ready and the share of wind or solar power should reach 80 per cent by 2030.

And now for something a bit different. Swedish researchers have created an artificial neuron that can control the snapping of a Venus flytrap’s mouth, paving the way for a new type of neurotechnology. The engineered artificial neuron could be useful for future research linking artificial, synthetic devices with biological systems such as brain-machine interfaces. In a study published in Nature, researchers from three Swedish universities constructed the neurons from polymers that can transport electrical signals to cells in the Venus flytrap which control the plant’s mouth. Venus flytraps, like other plants, don’t have nerves like humans and other animals. However, they are able to generate electrical impulses called action potentials that human neurons use to convey information to neural neighbours in the brain and spinal cord. The researcher’s next step is not only to get these artificial neurons to be faster but to advance them to more complex biological systems which they say they are already working on.

That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash briefings or your Google Home daily briefing. Make sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire newsletter to get all the news that matters directly in your inbox every day. Also, catch the next episode of Hashtag Tendances, our weekly Hashtag Trending episode in French, which drops every Thursday morning. If you have a suggestion or a tip, drop us a line in the comments or via email. Thank you for listening, I’m Pragya Sehgal.

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Title:

Content: Comment

End cheap holidays and voters will react with fury

If foreign travel becomes unaffordable support for sustainable policies will wither

The net zero crusade is in danger of unravelling.

Every time fresh evidence emerges of its true impact, the case for barrelling towards the Government’s self-imposed deadline suffers another damaging blow.

For a better example of the effect that it is having both on people’s lives and electoral politics, you’d be hard pushed to beat the ultra-low emissions zone that Sadiq Khan has imposed on London’s motorists.

The scheme has caused apoplexy among drivers, and with the Mayor accused of ignoring the needs of ordinary people, it represents the most serious threat to his bid to remain in office.

Still, if the capital’s voters think a decision to expand the £12.50-a-day Ulez charge to outer London boroughs is bad, imagine the fury if people wake up one day to discover they can no longer afford to go on holidays abroad.

Decarbonising air travel was always going to come with massive costs.

The chief question is who will foot the bill for such an enormous undertaking. In keeping with all things net zero, it is no surprise to learn that it increasingly looks as if the financial burden is likely to be at least partially shouldered by the consumer.

That such a warning has come from a collective of some of the world’s biggest airlines is no surprise.

The sector talks a good game when it comes to cleaning up its act, espousing the “opportunities” that could come from going green yet it seems reluctant to make the massive investment needed.

In highlighting the costs of switching to more expensive sustainable aviation fuel, the major airlines hope to cajole the Government into partly subsidising the transition.

It is also plainly in the interests of the airline industry to indulge in a little scaremongering.

Stirring discontent and unease throws sand in the wheels of the green revolution, giving big business longer to adapt, and what better way to do that than pointing out that the shift will also partly be paid for out of the pockets of holidaymakers?

Still, at least the impact of net zero has so far remained largely hypothetical

For all the anger about green levies, household energy bills have been driven higher by fossil fuels and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, not the cost of building more wind and solar farms.

Even the Government’s short-sighted petrol and diesel car ban is still years away, albeit looming increasingly large in the rear-view mirror.

A de facto tax on greener flights would be one of the first, real tangible costs that has a big impact on people’s lives.

Prices could jump as much as 20pc, according to the Sustainable Aviation Group.

Yet at the same as highlighting the likelihood of a “green premium”, it can’t quite make its mind up as to how damaging such a development would be.

Though some will be put off, most people will “still want to fly” despite what it calls “slightly higher costs”.

In fact, annual passenger numbers are still expected to “grow significantly” – by nearly 250m by 2050 – because most travellers are “happy to pay a bit more to travel”, it predicts.

It would be easy for the Government to be dismissive, too.

Sitting in Westminster, there will be a temptation to be snobbish about the idea of a week’s all-inclusive in Benidorm – but for many people, getting away every year ranks top of their priorities, and the advent of the budget airline industry means that overseas travel is often cheaper than holidaying in Britain.

Our political overlords overlook the importance of foreign getaways to the public consciousness at their peril.

Any suggestion that overseas holidays, like electric cars, have become the preserve of the rich, would trigger widespread discontent that would make the Ulez backlash look like a storm in a teacup.

Net zero and the fight against climate change is enough of a confused mess as it is without denying hard-working families a well-earned summer break.

Everywhere our political overlords turn, they run into another humiliating dilemma caused by the blind pursuit of decarbonisation.

On Monday, Germany, bullied into a u-turn by the country’s catastrophising eco-fascists, pulled the plug on its last three nuclear power plants.

The move was a massive victory for the anti-nuclear movement, whose opposition had grown louder following the Fukushima disaster of 2011, but as an act of self-harm there aren’t many greater.

The move is a massive setback for energy security, and German emissions, with much of the lost output having been replaced by coal-fired power plants.

Elsewhere, a crunch weekend meeting of G7 energy ministers ended without an agreement on a deadline to halt new coal investments as the reality of the ongoing energy crunch continues to bite; Joe Biden’s climate presidency has been eviscerated by his approval of another Alaskan gas mega-project in the space of just a few short weeks; and our own Government’s heat pump programme has been a disaster, undermined by prohibitive costs and ineffective technology.

There are worrying parallels with the state response to lockdown with ministers once again enthralled by the science without any real thought afforded to the consequences for a typical household.

That’s not to say the science is wrong – but experts and technocrats don’t live in the real world, nor do they understand what it takes to get elected.

If net zero goes too far, too quickly, there is a risk that the pendulum swings back the other way, setting legitimate efforts to tackle climate change back decades.

Title:

Content: This is an audio transcript of the FT News Briefing podcast episode: Russia’s move on Ukraine triggers western sanctions

Marc Filippino
Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Wednesday, February 23rd, and this is your FT News Briefing.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Russia is edging closer to war. President Vladimir Putin is endorsing Russian-backed separatists who claim the entire Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. Meanwhile, western powers are pushing back both with sanctions and by suspending the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. But can Germany kick its Russian gas habit?

Guy Chazan
Its industry has really become addicted to relatively cheap Russian gas so it’s in a bit of a bind, really.

Marc Filippino
Plus, how are Russian markets holding up through all this? Unsurprisingly, not so great. We’ll tell you more. I’m Marc Filippino, and here’s the news you need to start your day.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Very late on Monday night, Russian president Vladimir Putin decided to send what he called peacekeeping troops into eastern Ukraine. They’ll support two Russian-backed separatist states that he’s recognised as independent. This crossed a line for western powers, and they retaliated with a salvo of sanctions against Moscow on Tuesday. The US is targeting two of Russia’s largest financial institutions, as well as Russian elites and their family members. The FT’s Henry Foy has more on Europe’s sanctions towards Russia.

Henry Foy
So the European Union has decided to sanction a lot of individuals and entities. They’ve gone after 351 members of the Russian parliament. These are elected MPs, elected representatives who voted for the independence of these statelets, these separatists to be recognised for troops to be sent in, and also 27 individuals and entities who are linked to actions that have undermined Ukraine’s sovereignty. The key thing here, though, is the EU, just like the US and the UK who also announced their own sanction packages, are saying this is not it. This is just the first wave. And if you continue aggression against Ukraine and if there is a full invasion of the rest of Ukraine not held by these pro-Russian separatists, then there will be more — much, much more. This first wave is targeted. It’s not particularly economically damaging, but it’s a sign that there is unity across the west in standing up to this.

Marc Filippino
Henry, is all this enough to push Russia from further escalation?

Henry Foy
Well Marc, officials I speak to here in Brussels, in the EU, inside of Nato, tell me basically, no. That effectively, Putin has made a decision that he is going to go the whole way and invade Ukraine. That’s a decision that he’s built up over years. It’s an emotional decision. It’s an irrational one. And there’s really little that the west can do about it, given that Putin has thrown away and torn up all the diplomatic efforts. And he will take these sanctions and the sanctions will slow him down. They will affect the Russian economy. They will make an invasion more painful than perhaps it would have been before. However, they’re not going to stop him if that is what he intends to do, and most people, the Nato intelligence community, the defence community, believes that that is his decision.

Marc Filippino
Now, how is Nato’s approaching all this? You know, a crucial issue for Russia is that it wants to keep Ukraine and other former Soviet countries out of Nato. What’s its role right now?

Henry Foy
So Nato’s role, they’ve been very clear about this, is to protect itself, to protect alliance members, to protect Nato members in Europe. So what they’ve done in recent months and weeks is to deploy more troops in eastern European countries that border Ukraine and Russia effectively as deterrents to Russia to say, look, if you are going to invade Ukraine, you’re not going to come anywhere near us because we are going to defend our own, our own members, but also to help with any cross-border fallout from an invasion of Ukraine, which is likely to be in the form of refugees, potentially spillover events such as terrorism.

Marc Filippino
Henry Foy is the FT’s European diplomatic correspondent.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The news of Russia sending troops to Ukraine sent the price of oil up to nearly 100 bucks a barrel yesterday, and there was other energy news too. Germany has frozen the approval process on the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Chancellor Olaf Scholz says Berlin would not approve the Kremlin-backed project. The pipeline is owned by the Russian-backed company Gazprom and would have increased a Russian gas supplies to Germany and the rest of Europe. The pipeline project has been in the works for years, and there has been a lot of pressure on Germany to stop it. But now that it’s been stopped, what’s next for Germany’s energy sector? Our Berlin bureau chief Guy Chazan joins me now to talk about this. Welcome to the show, Guy.

Guy Chazan
Hi.

Marc Filippino
So Guy, one of our Lex columnists wrote that Germany has been like a junkie in its addiction to Russian gas. How dependent is Germany on Russian energy?

Guy Chazan
Well, it relies on Russia for 55 per cent of its gas imports, and that’s more than many other countries in Europe. It’s a sort of, it’s an indictment in a way of the country’s kind of energy policies over the past few years because in 2011 it took this rather controversial decision to phase out all its nuclear power stations by 2022, and it’s now also phasing out its coal-fired power stations by 2030. So it has all these very ambitious goals to change its energy mix, but that has made it relatively more reliant on gas. And when you’re more reliant on gas, you’re more reliant on Gazprom because that’s Europe’s major supplier.

Marc Filippino
Yeah, and Russia, in response to Germany’s move, said, OK, well, you know, this is going to have an impact on already high energy prices. How hard will higher prices hit Germany’s economy?

Guy Chazan
Well, we’ve already been getting a taste of it because over the past few months, energy experts have said that Gazprom seems to be deliberately withholding supplies to the spot market in Europe, and that has driven up prices. But it’s basically destroyed the reputation of Gazprom as a reliable supplier in Germany. The green minister of the economy yesterday said that explicitly, and that’s really a big change because in the past, whenever you sort of ask German officials, you know, what about this relationship with Russia? They always say, well, you know, even in the worst times during the cold war, Russia was a reliable supplier. Those flows of gas were never affected. But that seems to have changed in recent months, and the perception of Gazprom has accordingly changed as well in Germany.

Marc Filippino
So given that this perception of Gazprom has changed, what alternatives does Germany have when it comes to energy sources?

Guy Chazan
Well, none at the moment. That’s the problem. It basically is building a terminal for the import of LNG, liquefied natural gas. But that is very expensive, much more expensive than Gazprom’s gas. So it’s in a bit of a bind, really. But the big difference, I suppose, really from the Merkel era, the governments of Angela Merkel, is that we now have this government with the Greens, and they are determined for Germany to go carbon neutral in the next 25 years. And if that ambition is achieved, then there will be much, much more renewables, much more wind and solar, and much less reliance on fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas.

Marc Filippino
Less of a question on the economics of this whole thing and more about the safety of German people. I mean, it’s the middle of February. If people aren’t able to heat their homes, is there a potential issue with people being safe and warm in Germany?

Guy Chazan
Well, I don’t think so, because the consensus is that Gazprom and Russia would not do anything as suicidal as withhold gas supplies to Germany. I mean that literally would be destroying an energy relationship, which is mutually, very, very beneficial. It’s not just Germany that benefits from this. It’s Russia, too, which relies very, very heavily on the flow of foreign currency into its exchequer. I think actually, if it were to come to that, Germany is actually quite well placed at the moment because the winter is drawing to an end and it’s getting sort of LNG shipments via Rotterdam. So it has been able to diversify. And apparently ministers have been saying the energy security situation is OK at the moment.

Marc Filippino
Guy Chazan is the FT’s Berlin bureau chief. Thank you, Guy.

Guy Chazan
Thanks.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Marc Filippino
Moscow’s main stock benchmark has collapsed by a third since October. Markets have been responding to the escalating crisis in Ukraine. Investors are mostly worried about two things — one, a full-blown invasion by Russia into Ukraine, and two, how sanctions, which you know, we talked about earlier, will affect assets. Our capital markets correspondent Tommy Stubbington has been following this and says there’s one area in particular investors are watching.

Tommy Stubbington
Possibly the most extreme form of sanctions in terms of their impact on the Russian stock market would be an outright ban on trading Russian stocks or Russian bonds on the secondary market, which would make it effectively impossible for western investors to hold those assets. Now we’re not there yet, but I mean, obviously any outside risks that investors see will lead to investors effectively dumping the Russian assets that they hold, and they do hold those assets largely because they are included in the indices, the investment benchmarks, the billions and billions of dollars of investments follow.

Marc Filippino
Now how insulated is the market overall? And is it likely that the Kremlin would react?

Tommy Stubbington
Share price declines, on their own, are probably something that I imagine the Kremlin wouldn’t be too worried about. They’d be more worried about the sanctions hurting at the level of the whole economy. And on that basis, the Russian economy is fairly well insulated from sanctions by the high level of dollar reserves that their central bank holds, which, you know, should be able to protect the rouble from any kind of run from overseas investors. And so the answer is the, you know, the Russian economy is certainly more sanctions-proof than possibly it was in the past.

Marc Filippino
Tommy Stubbington is the FT’s capital markets correspondent.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

You can read more on all of these stories at FT.com. This has been your daily FT News Briefing. Make sure you check back tomorrow for the latest business news.

This transcript has been automatically generated. If by any chance there is an error please send the details for a correction to: typo@ft.com. We will do our best to make the amendment as soon as possible.

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Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2022. All rights reserved.
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Energy storage technologies have become increasingly important in this context.

Energy storage technologies have become increasingly important in this context.

As Germany phases out nuclear and coal, energy storage systems—especially battery energy storage—are critical for balancing the intermittency of renewables and ensuring grid stability .

Title:

Content: Home / News / World /  Germany quits nuclear power; shuts final 3 plants
Back

Germany has shut its final three nuclear plants, marking the end of the country's end of nuclear era that has spanned more than 60 years.

Nuclear power has long been contentious in Germany.

The move has come as Germany's eyes achieve its green goal. Steffi Lemke, Germany’s Federal Minister for the Environment and Consumer Protection and a Green Party member, "The position of the German government is clear: nuclear power is not green. Nor is it sustainable".

Closure of three nuclear plant's history:

Germany shut three plants-- Emsland, Isar 2, and Neckarwestheim, representing the culmination of a plan set in motion more than 20 years ago.

During the 1970s, a strong anti-nuclear movement emerged in Germany. The movement gave birth to the green party, which is now part of governing coalition.

However, it was in the 2000s the German government pledged to phase out nuclear power and start shutting down plants.

But in 2009, a new government came to power and it seemed brief as if nuclear would get a reprieve as a bridging technology to help the country move to renewable energy.

Then Fukushima happened. In 2011, an earthquake and tsunami caused three reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to melt down.

Three days later then-Chancellor Angela Merkel who was previously pro-nuclear, announced Germany would accelerate a nuclear phase-out, with older plants shuttered immediately.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine provided another plot twist.

Germany isn’t the only country committed to walking away from nuclear — Italy gave up the technology in 1990, and Lithuania recently struck a deal to dismantle its Soviet-era reactors, which have sat idle for over a decade. But in many advanced economies, nuclear is experiencing a resurgence.

On Sunday, Finland will start regular power production at Europe’s newest and biggest reactor. The 1,600-megawatt Olkiluoto-3 unit that faced years of delays had been planned to enter commercial production on Monday. France is planning to build at least six new reactors by 2050 as well as experiment with smaller, modular ones. The UK has similar ambitions. And even in Japan, after a decade of paralysis following the nuclear accident in Fukushima, the public is warming up to the use of nuclear power. The Japanese government wants to restart reactors that have sat idle since the disaster and to extend the lifespan of existing units.

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Content: 22 Apr, 2024 13:24

Fossil fuel era ending – Scholz

Despite ambitious plans to phase out Russian gas, the EU increased purchases in 2023, Reuters reported earlier this month

The predominance of fossil fuels in global energy output is nearing its end, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has claimed, adding that his country aims to produce 80% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

German industry had for decades relied on relatively inexpensive Russian gas, and to a lesser extent oil. However, following the start of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, energy imports from Moscow fell dramatically, adversely affecting the competitiveness of many German businesses.

In 2020, the European Union unveiled its Green Deal strategy for the bloc to become climate-neutral by the middle of the century.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Hanover trade fair on Sunday, Scholz said that the “era of fossil fuels is coming to an end.” German industry will have to reorganize its operations, but not all technological processes allow for swift decarbonization, according to the chancellor.

The German leader stated that “modern, highly-flexible and climate-friendly power plants” were currently being built across the country to replace traditional power sources. Scholz also said that Norway would provide Germany’s industry with “clean energy from wind and hydropower.”

Eighty percent of the nation’s electricity is expected to come from renewables by 2030, including solar power and both onshore and offshore wind, he added.

Scholz said the two years since the start of the Ukraine conflict have been “turnaround years” for Europe, allowing it to “address the necessary changes” to its energy supply.

The EU aims to completely wean itself off Russian fossil fuels by 2027. Last Friday, however, the bloc’s Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators released a report warning against drastic reductions of imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia.

In 2023, Russia emerged as the EU’s second-biggest LNG supplier after the US, accounting for 16% of the bloc’s imports.

Earlier this month, Reuters cited calculations based on the EU’s trade statistics as showing that Brussels increased natural gas purchases from Russia in 2023.

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Europe’s industrial giants have fretted for months that gas shortages this winter will cripple production. But even with fuel available, companies are discovering they can’t afford it.

“It’s not about shutdowns. It’s pricing, it’s cost,” said Christian Levin, CEO of Traton, the truckmaking unit of Volkswagen.

Europe is paying seven times as much for gas as the US, underscoring a dramatic erosion of the continent’s industrial competitiveness that threatens to cause lasting damage to its economy. With Russian President Vladimir Putin redoubling his war efforts in Ukraine, there’s little sign that gas flows — and substantially lower prices — will be restored to Europe in the near term.

Signs of an economic transformation are already afoot: Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, has seen its usual trade surplus dwindle as the surge in imported energy costs offsets its high-value exports of cars and machinery, and chemical companies began shifting production outside the country. Last month, German producer prices jumped by a record 46%.

Plastics maker Covestro won’t make growth investments in Europe if the crisis persists and will instead look to Asia, where CEO Markus Steilemann said the company can secure energy at prices 20 times cheaper than in the German and European spot market.

Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest carmaker, warned last week that it could reallocate production out of Germany and Eastern Europe if energy prices don’t come down.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz travelled with a group of business leaders to the Middle East at the weekend as he tries to nail down deals for liquefied natural gas with Saudi Arabia and Qatar to make up for Russia’s cuts.

But negotiations have been difficult, with gas suppliers including Qatar playing hardball over the price and duration of potential agreements, German officials have said. Discussions with suppliers in Europe and North America have proven similarly complex, underlining the uphill struggle Scholz faces in locking down supplies at prices that will keep Germany’s economic base competitive.

On Sunday Reuters reported that  German utility RWE has struck a deal with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company to deliver liquefied natural by the end of December.

Covestro expects its fuel bill to top €2.2bn in 2022, almost four times its cost in 2020, the year before Russia started choking off gas supplies to Europe. “At the current price level, energy-intensive German industry is no longer globally competitive,” a Covestro spokesperson said. “For a number of chemicals, imports from the US or China are already cheaper than producing them locally.”

Lasting damage

Where possible, manufacturers including Volkswagen and BMW are moving from gas to oil or coal to keep facilities running. But some energy-intensive manufacturing — such as metals, paper and ceramics — has become unfeasible, prompting a growing number of companies to shut down, shift production abroad or, like chemical giant BASF, to import key materials such as ammonia from competitors. Mercedes-Benz has ramped up production of key car parts to stockpile in case it has to close German factories.

“These burdens are causing lasting damage to the industrial core of our economy,” said Christian Seyfert, MD of VIK, a group that represents energy-intensive companies. “We urgently advise politicians to take decisive action so that Germany and Europe as a business location are not completely left behind internationally.”

Governments across Europe, where industrial production accounts for about a quarter of the economy, are taking emergency actions to shore up utilities and cushion the impact of the crisis. The UK announced an estimated £40bn plan that would cap wholesale energy prices that feed into gas and power contracts for businesses for six months.

Germany, because of its heavy reliance on Russian gas, has been hit harder by the energy shortage than many of its neighbours. But the rest of the continent is under similar duress.

In France, glassmaker Duralex, located near Orleans, said it’s putting its oven on standby for five months even though the order book is full and sales are growing. “Continuing to produce at current prices would be a financial aberration,” said Jose-Luis Llacuna, president of Duralex, which exports to 110 countries and had its Picardie model featured in the James Bond movie Skyfall.

High stakes

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday urged small and medium-sized businesses to hold off on signing new energy contracts at “crazy prices”, saying governments are renegotiating gas and electricity tariffs.

The stakes are perhaps highest in Germany, where industrial production makes up about 30% of the economy and employs about 1.15-million people. Energy-intensive factories countrywide supply everything from gearbox components for cars to the chemicals for medicines and everyday plastics.

Covestro, which makes materials for the building and car industries, said demand is starting to break down. “We’re slowly losing our customers,” Steilemann said. “We have an increased number of insolvencies, an increased number of closures and very restrained purchasing.”

Germany is to nationalise Uniper, the country’s largest gas importer, with an €8bn capital injection, and the country is poised to impose a gas levy on October 1 that spreads the pain of soaring wholesale energy prices to households and businesses.

Businesses have decried that plan. “Our companies can no longer cope with any further burdens,” said Wolfgang Grosse Entrup, president of the chemical association VCI, an organisation that represents the likes of BASF and Evonik Industries, key suppliers to Germany’s car making sector. “The situation is becoming more and more drastic.”

Bloomberg News. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

Commenting is subject to our house rules.

Battery storage could reduce the need for 9 GW of gas-fired capacity, saving billions in construction costs and lowering CO2 emissions .

The residential energy storage market is rapidly growing, with Germany accounting for 34% of the global market in 2023 and an expected annual growth rate exceeding 15% .

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Germany seizes 3 Russian refineries in energy row

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks during a meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 16. He announced the seizure of three Russian refineries in Germany on Friday. File Photo by Ukrainian Presidential Press Office/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Germany seized three Moscow-linked oil refineries in its country on Friday, in an escalation of the energy war between Russia and European countries in the shadow of the war in Ukraine.

The German government placed shares of the refineries PCK Schwedt, MiRo in Karlsruhe and Bayernoil in Vohburg under its control. All three are owned by the Russian energy company Rosneft.

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"The decision is accompanied by a comprehensive package for the future, which will provide a transformational boost for the region and support the refinery to ensure the supply of oil via alternative supply routes," Germany's economy ministry said in a translated statement.

The European Union has accused Moscow of using energy as a weapon of war, with Russia limiting its supply of natural gas to the countries in response to sanctions placed on the Kremlin for its invasion of Ukraine.

RELATED European Central Bank raises interest rates by three-quarters of a point

The European Union has committed to slashing its dependence on Russian oil, claiming it has fueled Moscow's war against Ukraine. Rosneft Deutschland is one of the largest oil processors in Germany, making up 12% of the country's processing capacity.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was doing everything possible to ensure Germany's energy security since Russia was no longer a reliable energy supplier.

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He said taking the plants was a "far-reaching energy policy decision to protect" the country. Scholz said the Schwedt refinery in the eastern state of Brandenburg, supplies 90% of fuel to the German capital of Berlin.

Scholtz also announced a $997 million "future package" for eastern German states over several years following Rosneft decision.

RELATED Germany rejects Polish report saying it owes World War II reparations

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Content: Germany To Postpone Closure Of Last Three Nuclear Power Plants - WSJ

(@ChaudhryMAli88)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th August, 2022) Germany, faced with possible energy shortages in the winter as gas supplies from Russia have dropped, intends to postpone the closure of its last three nuclear power plants (NPPs) in a move marking a departure from a two-decade policy to abandon nuclear energy, The Wall Street Journal reported citing German government officials.

The decision, which has to be formally adopted by the cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and would possibly require a vote in Parliament, could be weeks off, but already now the German government says two key conditions have been met that allow a temporary extension of the life of the three remaining NPPs, currently expected to close December 31: the possibility of a gas shortage and the confidence that a longer operation of reactors would pose no safety concern, according to the officials.

"The reactors are safe until Dec. 31, and obviously they will remain safe also after Dec. 31," the WSJ quoted a senior official as saying.

Scholz last week said for the first time that it could make sense to keep Germany's last three nuclear reactors online.

However, even if the life of the three German NPPs is extended, this will not be a panacea for Germany's looming energy crisis this winter as the country is mainly missing natural gas, primarily used for heating and manufacturing.

The European Union has been seeking to diversify energy imports and reduce dependence on Russia after Moscow started its special military operation in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has repeatedly said that Russia has never used gas supplies to punish anyone, but sells energy solely in its own interests, to increase the welfare of Russians and on a commercial basis.

The German government has also outlined measures to reduce gas and power consumption in the country over the next two years. The measures in particular include lowering the temperature in public buildings. According to Germany's energy regulator, gas consumption will have to be cut by 20 percent if Germany wants to avoid a gas shortfall during this coming winter and next winter.

The three officials who spoke to the WSJ said the extension of the NPPs' life would only be made for several months.

The power plants in question are Isar 2 in the southern state of Bavaria, Neckarwestheim 2 in Baden-Wurttemberg and Emsland in Lower Saxony. They are operated, respectively, by E.On SE, EnBW AG, and RWE AG.

After the start of Russia's special military operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine, the West has stepped up sanctions pressure on Russia, which has led to an increase in prices for energy and food in Europe and the United States.

The government’s Kraftwerksstrategie includes a technology-independent capacity market to incentivize controllable generators and storage systems, supporting a fully renewable electricity system .

Public and political sentiment regarding nuclear energy has shifted notably during the energy crisis.

Public and political sentiment regarding nuclear energy has shifted notably during the energy crisis.

Public and political sentiment regarding nuclear energy has shifted notably during the energy crisis.

While the Green Party and much of the government remain firmly opposed to nuclear power, citing safety and waste disposal concerns , public opinion has become more favorable.

A spring 2022 poll found that 65% of Germans viewed nuclear power as essential for achieving EU climate goals .

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Content: CRA: The future of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)

As regulators become familiar with BESS, additional applications emerge — optimisation begins by combining revenue streams, says Kate Kaplet, CRA Energy

As an associate principal in Charles River Associates (CRA) Energy Practice, Kate Kaplet works with utilities and investors, supporting them to achieve their business goals and help value creation — be it as part of an M&A life cycle, turnaround/transformation efforts, or business strategy development and implementation.

Kaplet has worked on projects in Europe, the Middle East, the US and Singapore. Her focus areas include energy markets, energy trading, sourcing and route-to-market, business strategy and asset optimization, grid O&M transformation including digitalisation and smart grid, and corporate functions (e.g., risk, finance and controlling, and HSE). Prior to joining CRA, she worked for a clean technology startup and major consulting firms including the Boston Consulting Group, gaining over 11 years experience in strategy consulting.

Kaplet is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. She holds a MSc in Sustainable Urban Development and Planning from The Bartlett, University College London and Bc and Ing arch degrees in Architecture and Urban Planning with additional MLA specialism from The Czech Technical University in Prague.

As one of the authors of CRA’s report on battery storageUnlocking the potential: Navigating key considerations in battery energy storage systems — she shares some expert insight with Energy Digital.

She is joined by Alpaslan Dilekci, Vice President in CRA’s Energy Practice. He has more than 20 years of energy industry and consulting expertise advising clients from the utilities and renewables sectors.

Mr. Dilekci’s focus has been on the energy transition, including engagements centering around the ramp-up and roll-out of decarbonized and decentralized energy assets and solutions, the wider electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem, as well as engagements focusing on scalable asset-based or digital investments in Europe. His main clients have been at C-level of utilities, renewable energy firms, oil and gas majors, and investment firms. He has expertise working in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (DACH), the BeNeLux, and has also worked across other European markets.

He has built and led multiple strategy and operations teams for international consulting firms in the EMEA and DACH regions and undertaken complex digital and capital-intense infrastructure projects. Prior to joining CRA, Mr. Dilekci founded and grew two start-ups in Germany focusing on renewable energy solutions and EV-charging infrastructure.

Mr. Dilekci was previously a partner with a consulting firm where he led energy and renewables teams for the German and Swiss market focusing on energy procurement and trading, energy retail and supply, energy market fundamentals, climate risk, and sustainability. He is fluent in English, French, and Turkish and is a native German speaker.

Mr. Dilekci holds a master’s degree in Energy Economics from the University of Aachen and Münster, and a German Diploma in Business Administration and Information Science from the University of Karlsruhe.

What role do Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) have in the evolving energy landscape?

With the increasing integration of renewable energy sources and the phase-out of fossil-fuel-powered facilities, the role of battery energy storage systems grows in importance. Storage, when combined with renewable generation, can lead to an increase of the share of renewable energy consumed through its ability to shift the power supply to times when it is most needed. When feeding from the grid and then discharging, it can also provide additional capacity to the power system at times of capacity constraints. Moreover, through a variety of grid services, BESS also helps to balance the grid or maintain its frequency.

As regulators become more familiar and comfortable with BESS through increased experience, additional applications are emerging. BESS can help stabilise the grid (e.g., black start, inertia, or islanding services) or provide services to alleviate grid congestion on the transmission system operator (TSO) level in the form of so-called “grid boosters”. Additionally, BESS can be utilised behind the meter in applications, providing value to industrial and commercial customers (I&C) or to households (in the residential segment).

For I&C, BESS can represent both a source of required power backup and a source of potential additional revenue due to its ability to shift and therefore shape external power demands of the company. A combination of batteries with power generation sources such as solar photovoltaic (PV) offers an attractive option to both I&C and residential customers. Increasingly, BESS can also be leveraged to help cover demand peaks when collocated with electric vehicle (EV) charging stations or to enable connections of new demand sources, under the condition that part of the demand will be “shaved” during peak times. We expect the applications will grow over time, especially in markets that will face increasing grid congestion problems.

The overall policy direction, both on an EU and state level is rather positive. For example, the Electricity Market Reform Proposal mentions the need to boost investment in flexibility and aim to reduce price volatility. There is room for more specific targets both on the EU and state levels, and those targets are emerging. Currently, Spain targets 20 GW and the UK targets 30 GW of storage by 2030. Most targets are technology agnostic, considering not only BESS, but also flywheel, pumped hydro, and liquid air energy storage. The European Association for Storage of Energy (EASE) outlines targets of 200 GW of storage by 2030 and 600 GW by 2050 across the EU.

Investing in energy storage will be essential to reach such targets. Investors are becoming increasingly familiar with BESS as an asset class. To make it truly investable, there is still a need for some level of certainty in terms of capacity support and favourable regulatory environment. Merchant only models are still much harder to finance, given the uncertainties of market price, volatility outlook, and associated trading risks. With the growing understanding of such risks, associated investing models may emerge over time, but it may take a while, especially in an environment with an increased cost of financing.

How can companies maximise earnings through cross-market optimisation strategies and plan for long-term adaptability to changing market conditions while balancing deployment costs with specific use cases to ensure project profitability?

Optimisation begins by combining revenue streams, considering technical feasibility and regulations. Some countries prohibit simultaneous participation in frequency services and balancing or capacity markets. Additionally, commitments to ancillary services could reduce the wholesale market opportunity due to the requirements on state of energy levels. There are also limitations due to the degradation, warranty and insurance conditions, and maintenance cost. On top of that, the cross-market optimisation strategy tends to be dynamic, with the combination of revenue streams differing between time periods and seasonally within the year, and likely changing over the project lifetime as new services emerge, old disappear, and the market develops.

Investors should consider the potential revenue streams and utilisation scenarios already in the design and procurement phase and select a solution that allows for maximum flexibility. This requires an understanding of the market situation and potential scenarios of market developments and what revenue sources can look like in mid and longer-term. Therefore, modelling of scenarios should be used to test optimisation strategies and stress test those to reveal weak spots and the most important sensitivities. This will then need to be translated into project design, agreed warranties and servicing to offer up the most viable investment options.

What is the significance of integrating system augmentation and upgrades into project business cases and considerations for the end-of-life phase in BESS projects?

As with any battery, BESS capacity and efficiency decreases over time as the system ages. In the project planning and design phase, this should be considered upfront, and a decision should be made on how to handle end-of-life.

This decision may shape the initial project design and can influence modifications that will be possible later in the project lifetime. Factors that impact this include:

  • Spatial setup and physical footprint
  • Impact on upfront investment and potential operating cost implications
  • Flexibility to accommodate technology improvements and changes
  • Risks linked to the technical feasibility and system compatibility.

Depending on the factors of a specific project, the developer can decide to “overbuild” the system in terms of capacity or both capacity and power or decide to design the project so it can be augmented later, for example with sufficient space and access to perform the works. The actual decision to proceed with augmentation or even repowering should be flexible and driven by the market conditions, not just rely on the performance degradation as a triggering factor.

Investors should periodically reassess technology advancements, cost dynamics, and revenue limitations against revenue opportunities driven by the ever-changing energy market conditions.

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For more energy insights check out the latest edition of Energy Digital Magazine and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn & Twitter.

You may also be interested in Sustainability Magazine and EV Magazine

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Net Zero LIVE will be hosted live from the QEII Centre, London on the 6th and 7th of March, and streamed globally via our virtual event platform Brella. Net Zero LIVE London will feature four LIVE themes, incorporating Sustainability LIVE, EV LIVE, Scope 3 LIVE, and Energy LIVE to deliver a holistic conference and exhibition experience with opportunities to connect with like-minded peers and actively contribute to crafting a sustainable future. Following Net Zero LIVE, viewers can also sign up for Sustainability LIVE Dubai and Singapore.

Sign up to the The Global Sustainability & ESG Awards 2024, coming to London on the 11th September 2024.

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This growing support is driven by concerns over energy shortages and soaring prices following the reduction of Russian gas supplies.

This growing support is driven by concerns over energy shortages and soaring prices following the reduction of Russian gas supplies.

This growing support is driven by concerns over energy shortages and soaring prices following the reduction of Russian gas supplies.

There is a generational divide, with younger climate activists more open to nuclear as a low-carbon solution, while older generations remain skeptical due to historical nuclear disasters .

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Content: A state-owned Dutch company, the biggest electricity grid operator in Germany, said on Thursday that talks to sell its German business to the Berlin government have ended.

TenneT, one of four transmission network operators in Germany, announced plans for the talks back in February 2023, saying at the time it needed a "structural solution" to funding needs for its German business as the grid is bolstered to handle the transition to renewable energy, which it put at about 15 billion euros ($16.1billion).

The transmission lines are vital for Germany's plans to completely shift its power production from fossil fuels to renewable energy by 2045 at the latest. At present, some of the electricity generated by wind farms in northern Germany can't be dispatched to the south due to lack of transmission capacity.

The German government has now informed the Netherlands that "it cannot deliver on the planned transaction due to budgetary challenges," TenneT said in a statement Thursday. Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party coalition is currently rowing about how to put together a 2025 budget while adhering to Germany's tight self-imposed rules on running up debt.

This has already forced a hasty, court-mandated rehash of the 2024 budget, complete with subsidy cuts that prompted protests by farmers. TenneT, which also runs the electricity grid in the Netherlands, spoke of "tapping into public or private capital markets for a structural funding solution for its German operations."

They further added that the German government "is committed to support such alternative solutions."

Political debates have intensified, with some factions and public figures advocating for reactivating or extending the life of nuclear reactors to ensure energy security and stabilize prices .

However, the ruling coalition remains divided, and the Green Party’s opposition has so far prevented a reversal of the phaseout .

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Content: German Chancellor: Qatar to play ‘central role’ in Germany’s energy strategy

SHAFAQNA-Qatar will play a “central role” in Germany’s new energy strategy,  German Chancellor said .

Speaking at a joint news conference in Berlin with Qatar’s emir, Olaf Scholz said the two countries will enhance their economic ties and energy cooperation.

“Germany will further develop its energy infrastructure so that we will be able to import sufficient amount of liquified natural gas by ships. Here in our strategy, Qatar plays a central role,” he said, referring to Berlin’s plans to end its reliance on Russian energy in response to the Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

For his part, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani said his country has made major investments on liquified natural gas (LNG) recently and that they will be happy to contribute to the stability of energy markets.

He underlined that Qatar will boost its LNG output in coming years, and will be in a position to increase its supply.

“Whatever we can provide for energy security in Europe, even during this period, we will make sure that we can provide,” he said.

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The government’s stance has also caused tensions within the EU, as Germany opposes including nuclear energy in the EU’s sustainable finance taxonomy, in contrast to countries like France that rely heavily on nuclear power .

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Decarbonization center stage in Germany's 'climate election'

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Decarbonization center stage in Germany's 'climate election'

Campaign billboards in Germany. Green momentum is pushing climate change up the agenda in the run-up to the Sept. 26 vote.
Source: Sean Gallup/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images

Voters in Germany, Europe's largest economy, go to the polls Sept. 26 for a federal election with climate change and energy policy as key battlegrounds.

Sixteen years of coalition governments led by Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, or CDU, initially saw rapid build-outs of wind and solar power, but more recently have been characterized by a lack of progress on climate issues, just as other countries have made bold strides forward.

A rise in popularity of the country's Green Party is now forcing the larger parties to take a harder line on issues from Germany's coal exit to the rejuvenation of its fledgling onshore wind market, setting up what is billed as "a climate election" by German think tank Agora Energiewende.

As a sign of the times, the Green Party's candidate for chancellor, Annalena Baerbock, joined the CDU's Armin Laschet and Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party, or SPD, for a series of televised debates, breaking tradition from the usual two-person format.

"The next government will be the last to have an active influence on the climate crisis, and I am deeply convinced that we can do it," Baerbock said during a Sept. 12 debate. "It is an enormous opportunity for our country."

But even against this backdrop, the next administration may fall short on delivering what is needed to decarbonize the economy and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C, as set out by the Paris Agreement on climate change.

"None of the election manifestos are compatible with the 1.5-degrees target; the Greens are closest," Claudia Kemfert, head of the energy, transportation and environment department at the German Institute of Economic Research and a member of the German Environment Ministry's expert council on environmental issues, said in a Sept. 8 email.

New climate law 'still insufficient'

In Germany's political system of proportional representation, governments are usually formed through coalitions of two or more parties. The Green Party's polling results have catapulted the once small party to the club vying for the chancellorship and the party is likely, though not guaranteed, to form part of a new coalition government.

The Greens are putting pressure on other parties to take a stand on climate issues, while their possible role in a future government means other parties can defer to them for much of the policy detail, according to Karla Klasen, an associate at law firm Osborne Clarke in Cologne. "The Social Democrats and the Greens barely differ on climate and energy; the Greens go into the details and have thought things through, while the SPD is copying," Klasen said in a Sept. 8 interview.

The new government will inherit an overhaul of Germany's climate commitments, forced through in May after a court ruling, which moved the country's net-zero target forward to 2045 and introduced fresh milestones in the years until then.

While governing coalition partners, the CDU and SPD, as well as the Free Democratic Party are sticking largely to the newly defined climate objectives in their election manifestos, the Green Party has pledged to accelerate the decarbonization of Germany's economy, calling the revised climate law "still insufficient."

The Greens, the third-most popular party in voter polling, want to curb emissions by 70% by 2030, while also ushering in a faster coal exit, bringing it forward eight years from the existing 2038. By 2035, the party wants 100% renewable energy, which would help achieve net-zero emissions in 20 years, it said.

Kemfert said the new climate law is not compatible with the Paris climate accord and needs to be tightened further, and efforts should target net-zero emissions within 15 years. "To achieve the climate targets we need a massive renewables build-out, a coal exit by 2030 and a departure from fossil fuels in transport and buildings. This is extremely ambitious and can only succeed with a broad range of measures," Kemfert said.

Bureaucratic hurdles

In an Aug. 30 report, Agora laid out a set of recommendations for Germany's new leaders, including an annual €30 billion budget for climate-protection measures, starting in 2022.

It also recommends screening financing through the EU's sustainable finance taxonomy. Shutting down Germany's last coal-fired power plant can be achieved by 2030, the group argued, while onshore wind deployment needs to be tripled.

Growth of onshore wind has slowed in recent years amid a lack of suitable locations and growing local opposition. Agora called for further land to be made available and speedier permitting procedures, as well as for financial incentives for local communities.

In an analysis of election manifestos, German wind power association BWE found the Green Party has the strongest commitment to renewables and the deployment of new capacity, followed by the Left and then the ruling CDU and SPD. To reach Germany's net-zero target by 2045, BWE calls for annual onshore wind construction of 4.5 GW.

Outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel.
Source: Sean Gallup/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images

"The big hurdle is the German bureaucracy," Daniel Breuer, energy lawyer and partner at Osborne Clarke, said in an interview.

The devolution of permitting responsibility to local authorities will remain a stumbling block for onshore wind regardless of high-level policy pledges, Breuer said. Meanwhile, solar is on a growth path, even outside of Germany's subsidy framework. "We are advising on a multitude of large utility-scale solar projects financed with [power purchase agreements]. Corporate demand is there because onshore wind isn't working," Breuer said.

Given the country's power needs and the pace of renewables deployment, Breuer does not consider a complete exit from coal by 2030 to be realistic. New gas power plants supplied by the incoming Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia could help accelerate the transition, he said.

Hydrogen pledges

Hydrogen plays a significant role in most parties' election pledges: The SPD wants to make Germany the leading market for hydrogen technology by 2030 and the Green Party pledges to collaborate with wind- and solar-rich nations for imports to top up domestic production.

The CDU said it will implement Germany's existing hydrogen strategy, which prioritizes green hydrogen, made from renewables with electrolysis, and targets 5 GW of electrolyzer capacity by 2030. The party will also accept blue hydrogen, made from natural gas with carbon capture, "in the transition phase."

Kemfert said it will take a decade before green hydrogen can be deployed at scale in Germany, exclusively in sectors where direct electrification is not possible.

"And in this decade we have to at least triple the rate of expansion of renewable energies and get out of fossil fuels," she said. "By choosing the wrong priorities, we create new fossil pathway dependencies, so that meeting the climate targets moves further into the future."

The energy crisis has also highlighted the importance of public-private partnerships in accelerating the renewable transition.

The energy crisis has also highlighted the importance of public-private partnerships in accelerating the renewable transition.

The energy crisis has also highlighted the importance of public-private partnerships in accelerating the renewable transition.

Collaborations between government and private companies are driving investments in wind, solar, and green hydrogen projects .

Title:

Content:
The Challenge: Building Capacity For Africa’S Renewables Sector (By NJ Ayuk)

(MENAFN- African Press Organization)
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By NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman, African Energy Chamber ( )

Consider this paradox: Nigeria has achieved the largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa, but 45%, or about 85 million, of its residents still live without electricity. Across Sub-Saharan Africa, that figure looms to 600 million.

I believe renewable energy is part of the solution to this dilemma - both in Nigeria and throughout the sub-continent. But there are several hurdles to be cleared before wind, solar, hydrogen, and other clean energy sources can provide the same economic benefits that natural gas - the other part of the solution - already offers. One of those hurdles will be preparing domestic workforces for employment and leadership in the growing renewable energy sector.

We are seeing movement in that direction. In Nigeria, for example, global renewables-promoting nonprofit, RMI, is providing technical training in partnership with four Nigerian energy distribution companies, two developers, and vocational training schools such as RMI's Energy Transition Academy and the Lagos Energy Academy. Aimed at producing leaders and energy entrepreneurs, the Nigerian Cohort of RMI's Global Fellowship Program, started in 2022, uses online learning and in-person experiences to develop leaders who know how to produce and employ solar PV, battery storage, and microgrid technologies.

We will need many, many more efforts like this for Africans to fully reap the economic benefits of our energy transition. For that to happen, more investment capital must be attracted for curriculum development, to support training efforts, and to help fledgling renewable businesses find their footing.

This is a critical topic, one that deserves attention at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) that is now underway and beyond.

Africa Must be Proactive in Building Capacity

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted that 4 million new renewable energy jobs will be needed in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030 to meet 2050 net-zero goals. But it is not a given that those positions will be filled by Africans, especially if we rush forward with our transition from fossil fuels to renewables, as many wealthy nations and environmental groups are demanding.

Currently, there is a significant shortage of qualified human resources - people educated and prepared to take advantage of the opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship that renewables offer.

What's more, only 76,000 renewable energy jobs have been created in Africa, less than 1% of 10.3 million globally. That means the vast majority of Africans have absolutely no experience, or hands-on opportunities to develop skills, in green energy.

Education is Key

Turning this situation around begins with investing in and emphasizing the importance of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education at all levels in Africa.

African governments will need to do their part by driving improvements in all-around education in science and technology and green energy vocational programs.

Government policies should also provide advantages to attract private-sector visionaries and incentivize public-private collaborations that foster the education and training of Africans for career-level, leadership positions in the renewables sectors.

Africa's renewable energy sector is growing. That reality is a mixed blessing because of the shortage of homegrown, trained professionals able to create, construct, and run renewable projects. We do, however, have an advantage - our large, youthful demographic.

Many of our young people need jobs, and many more soon will. If we can put together partnerships among governments, learning facilities, and private industry, we can train our youth for careers in renewable technologies that offer them brighter futures.

We should be building on the examples of the promising educational opportunities that are available for African students who want to build a career in renewable energy. Here is a sampling:

  • A German-African partnership , the Atlas of Green Hydrogen Generation Potentials in Africa, states,“Green hydrogen offers a real chance to launch a development in Africa which is driven by African countries themselves.” As part of the effort, a master's degree program in green hydrogen technologies was begun in 2021. Students from all 15 countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) may apply. Universities in Cote d'Ivoire, Niger, Senegal, and Togo host the program.
  • Another German government initiative , Green People's Energy for Africa,“supports vocation training institutes and technical universities to offer new and improved practical training modules for professionals” as well as other methods for skills development in renewable energy technology.
  • An EU-US cooperative agreement supports sub-Saharan Africa's just transition to green energy. Working at the regional and national levels, efforts include empowerment of women in the sector, knowledge sharing to provide technical assistance, and the leveraging of investments by the private sector.

Another Opportunity: Green Hydrogen

Surveying the renewables horizon, there is general agreement that decarbonizing all the world's economic sectors won't be possible without the use of green hydrogen - for feedstock, fuel cell technology, and electric vehicles.

The demand for this clean and adaptable fuel, produced with renewable energy sources, compounds the need for a trained renewable energy workforce.

Green hydrogen presents both a large opportunity and a large challenge for African nations. With its massive area and plentiful solar and wind resources, Africa could potentially be producing about 10% of the world's green hydrogen by 2030. But there is an“if” attached to that projection.

If African states strategize and invest now to develop a green hydrogen workforce, they can be r eady for the coming wave of green hydrogen development and utilization. Hydrogen learning opportunities should be made available from the high school level upward as part of comprehensive skills plans for developing a prepared workforce.

With forethought and smart implementation, young Africans can be readied to lead the way in bringing the benefits of green hydrogen to their communities. In the process, job shortages can be mitigated as these young employees put their skills to work in the production, storage, and transportation of green hydrogen.

More African countries should be taking measures to ensure their people and businesses capitalize on green energy opportunities. And these must not stop with education and skills training; we also need local content measures to help ensure our residents benefit from renewable power projects and facilities operations.

Ensuring Strong Local Content Policies

Just as local content rules continue to function as vital safeguards in African oil and gas operations, they will be tremendously important in the renewables sector, both for individuals and for businesses. As I've stated in the past, every nation needs to create a framework that empowers indigenous companies to fully capitalize on renewable energy opportunities.

There are times when power needs may justify temporary modifications to these policies. As an example, South Africa's National Energy Crisis Committee (NECOM), early this year, relaxed its local content rules for the construction of solar modules. Easing local employment requirements from 100% to 30% for local component production is meant to facilitate quicker deployment of solar projects, and hopefully, help alleviate the country's crippling power outages.

Power supply levels and other factors show the need to perform a balancing act when writing local content rules. Those other factors include the supply of current local skilled workers and infrastructure. We don't want to discourage developers, so we need appropriate, tailored local content regulations.

One reasonable approach is the one taken by Kenya, where guidelines requiring contractors to formulate a local content plan have been drafted. These plans must include training, succession, jobs, technology transfer, R&D, legal, financial, and insurance issues. This approach places the“ball” in the“court” of each project's contractor, allowing for their input in local content formulation.

A similar policy has been enacted in Nigeria. The local content policy is part of the government's Electricity Act 2023. It requires the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to provide for local content participation involving employment, production, and assembly of components for solar PV, deep cycle batteries, and the electro-mechanical parts of SHP technology, wind boilers, and some turbines.

The act goes further, requiring contractors, sub-contractors, and licensees involved in renewable energy to include local content in all their related activities.

If widely enacted across the continent, similar local content rules can work hand-in-hand with training efforts to ensure Africans benefit from renewable energy development - through employment and the growth of their economies.

We are seeing promising movement in the effort to address Africa's skills gap, but we need many more programs, and we need them now. African countries and energy industry stakeholders should be doing everything possible to support these efforts, so Africans don't miss out on renewable energy industry opportunities.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

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Title:

Content: Germany: Engine of Europe

Germany needs structural change to prevent a shift to the right, Commerzbank CEO says

Key Points
  • "For a long time we were pretty much in good shape and maybe asleep and not ready to modernize and tackle the structural necessary changes and modernizations," Manfred Knof told CNBC at the Handelsblatt Banking Summit 2023.
  • The right-leaning Alternative for Germany party won a district council election for the first time in June, and many are looking to see how the group performs in upcoming local elections in the state of Bavaria.
The sun sets behind the lignite-fired power plant of Boxberg on August 18, 2023 in Neuliebel, Germany.
Florian Gaertner | Photothek | Getty Images

Germany needs to implement structural changes if it wants to prevent a political shift to the right, Commerzbank CEO Manfred Knof told CNBC at the Handelsblatt Banking Summit 2023.

When asked if he was concerned that the rise of right-wing parties in Germany was a potential threat to the German economy, Knof said the population is unhappy and could see that structural problems aren't being solved.

"For a long time we were pretty much in good shape and maybe asleep and not ready to modernize and tackle the structural necessary changes and modernizations," Knof said.

"I think ... an agenda could also help and that will then be bringing the population back and of course democracy is not self-evident and we need to fight for it and we need to defend it."

Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

The right-leaning Alternative for Germany party won a district council election for the first time in June, and many are looking to see how the group performs in upcoming local elections in the state of Bavaria.

Knof also said Germany's small-to-medium-sized companies, known as the Mittelstand, were reluctant to invest in their own country because of the structural issues in Europe's largest economy.

VIDEO4:4604:46
Commerzbank CEO: German economic situation is challenging, but not hopeless

"The situation is challenging ahead and that's what we see also in the German SMEs, they are resilient but we see a lack of willingness to invest and that should concern us going forward," Knof said.

"We need more activities and ... [a] better framework for the German SMEs to invest in this country," he added.

The comments reflect those made in June by Siegfried Russwurm, head of the German Industry Federation, who suggested that energy prices were driving companies to move elsewhere.

VIDEO4:4504:45
High energy prices could drive German companies to relocate, industry body says

In June CNBC's Annette Weisbach asked Russwurm whether the ongoing energy situation was "bad enough" for companies to relocate, to which he responded: "It is indeed."

"A lot of family-owned companies ... have very operational plans to relocate," Russwurm said, adding that the current business conditions in Germany had created a "cocktail" of obstacles for companies.

VIDEO4:2204:22
Germany is the sick man of Europe, Ifo institute says

Hans-Werner Sinn, president emeritus at the Ifo institute, made similar comments about the German population leaning to the right politically, particularly in terms of the government's approach to sustainability, on Sept. 4, speaking to CNBC from the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy.

"There is a backlash clearly … The population is now moving to the right," Sinn said.

Germany is attempting to implement its Energy Efficiency Strategy 2050, which includes cutting its primary energy use by 2030, but the move has garnered criticism as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine drove energy prices up across Europe.

Title:

Content: What On Earth·New

Denmark is getting off fossil fuels. Are there lessons there for Canada?

After more than a decade spent thinking about fossil fuels and climate change, Angela Carter was looking for a “beacon of hope” to inspire Canada with alternative visions for what an oil and gas-dependent society could become.

With oil and gas demand forecast to peak before 2030, academics, workers and union leaders look to what's next

After more than a decade spent thinking about fossil fuels and climate change, Angela Carter was looking for a "beacon of hope" to inspire Canada with alternative visions for what an oil and gas-dependent society could become.

Carter, an energy transition specialist with the International Institute for Sustainable Development and associate professor of political science at the University of Waterloo, found that hope when Denmark made a landmark decision to cancel future permitting for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea in late 2020.

A country of 5.8 million people, Denmark earned the equivalent of $109 billion from oil and gas extraction in the North Sea between 1972 and 2020. The country aims to be independent of fossil fuels by 2050, and has committed to renewable power for all energy demands — including electricity, heating, industry and transportation — by that date.

In November 2021, Denmark was one of the founding members of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, along with six other countries and the province of Quebec.

It made Carter curious to understand why a country so "entrenched" in fossil fuels would decide on "an end date on its fossil fuel extraction," she said. She followed her curiosity to Denmark to find out.

With many analysts forecasting fossil fuel demand to peak and start dropping by 2030, academics like Carter, concerned workers and union leaders are having conversations about what this means for jobs and communities.

There's fear among Canadian workers that the energy transition will leave them out. But some are looking internationally to Denmark and Germany for inspiration on how to adapt.

The 'ingredients' to energy transition in Denmark

Esbjerg, a town on Denmark's west coast, has long been a hub for industry in the North Sea. As its large fishing industry began to decline, offshore oil and gas development took off in the early 1970s.

Now, wind turbines and related technology make up a multibillion-dollar export industry

Walking around the town's port, Carter found the hope she'd looked for. "The blades on these wind turbines are over 100 metres long. It's hard to imagine even the scale of them. And they're everywhere," she said.

Seeing the wind industry in Denmark first-hand was, to Carter, the promise of "what the future can be" in Canada.

She compared Denmark's energy transition to making a cake. The "ingredients" include government investment, climate and energy policy, support for workers — and importantly, "massive public engagement," she said.

Extreme heat and drought conditions in Denmark over the summer of 2018 put climate change in the spotlight, prompting protests ahead of the 2019 election. Social Democrat Mette Frederiksen won on a platform that included climate change.

The Danish government decided to revisit the upcoming licensing round to explore for oil and gas in the North Sea "in light of the elections and in light of the … public demands for climate action," said Jens Mattias Clausen, EU director for Concito, a Copenhagen-based think-tank.

At the time, Clausen worked for Denmark's ministry of climate and energy. The French oil and gas company Total withdrew its application for further offshore exploration "because of the uncertainty" the delays in licensing had caused, said Clausen.

How government helped build supply chains in wind energy

Where controversy has been a recent hallmark of public debate about energy transition in Canada, things are less polarized in Denmark, said Jesper Bank, the chief commercial officer at Port Esbjerg.

"We do not see this transition as a choice between one type of energy or another type of energy, we see this as a progression or a natural development," he said.

In 2021, 43.8 per cent of Denmark's power production was from wind electricity from both on and offshore turbines, according to the International Energy Agency. But the success of wind energy in Denmark didn't happen without help from the Danish government. Some of that came in the form of funding to build wind farms.

"That was a good way to build up supply chains," said Bank, explaining that by about 2019, the wind farm proposals no longer needed financial support because the industry had taken off.

"Then we started investing in vessels," he said. "The port started investing in more direct infrastructure for offshore wind."

Bank has toured guests from around the world through the busy port — in one week alone welcoming visitors from port associations in Poland and Baltic countries, an Australian government official and a group from the Netherlands.

Denmark has become a destination for visitors from Canada, too. Last month, employees from the Nova Scotia government visited to learn lessons as it embarks on a plan to develop an offshore wind farm by 2030 to produce green hydrogen.

Support for workers key to Danish energy transition

When Jakob Lykke was growing up in Esbjerg, his future career seemed inevitably tied to the North Sea: working in the shipping, fishing or fossil fuel sectors.

"I chose the oil and gas [sector]," said Lykke, who now works as a union leader representing workers at the port, called dockers.

Many dockers work in both offshore wind and offshore oil and gas, he said, describing them as "ready to do the job" of working in the wind sector as more work becomes available with Denmark's push to build more offshore turbines.

The "Offshore Academy" allows workers to study full time for as short as a week up to a few months, learning skills that allow them to hop between industries, all while making what Lykke calls "a decent salary."

Angela Carter noticed that oil and gas workers thought of themselves as "energy workers" and were "delighted to make that transition" to wind if jobs were available.

"If we can unlock this in the Canadian context, we can't help but win."

Worker fears of what might be lost

In Canada, there are signs of change in the oil and gas sector.

In 2022, about 126,000 people were employed in oil and gas extraction and support services, compared to about 158,000 in 2012, according to Statistics Canada.

But some Canadian workers say renewables don't currently offer the same quality of life.

"I have had offers to go work in wind farms and … [it] just wasn't financially beneficial to me to do it," said a Newfoundland oil and gas worker named Chris in an interview with Laura Lynch for What On Earth.

CBC has agreed not to use his last name to protect his job security in his role working for a company that does inspections for industry, including oil and gas sites.

Chris lives an hour outside of St. John's with his wife and young child, and normally travels across Canada for work on various industrial sites.

"Our system is based around money, unfortunately, so it really limits my ability and my drive to seek out those jobs," he said.

"Everybody keeps talking about these so-called green jobs," said Terry O'Connor, who is a heavy equipment operator on oil and gas construction projects and lives in Pemberton, B.C. "Where are they? What are they?"

How worker opposition lead to change in Germany

Making sure workers were financially supported was a crucial part of another case study Angela Carter and other academics have studied: Germany's plan to phase out coal, which started for economic reasons decades ago, before climate concerns.

After Germany signed coal import agreements with other countries in the wake of the Second World War, it saw its domestic industry rebound in the late 1950s, creating a glut quite literally piling up outside mines, said Petra Dolata, an energy historian and associate professor at the University of Calgary.

The first big protest by miners happened in 1959, said Dolata, who grew up in Germany's Ruhr Valley, a coal mining region. Workers speaking up for their job security would play a large role in the phaseout of coal in the coming decades. Between then and the mid-1960s, 165,000 miners lost their jobs, she said.

Because of public outcry, Germany made a plan to support workers.

Unions, industry and governments "sat together and talked about, 'How can you make this phaseout, this closing of mines, more socially acceptable?'" said Dolata.

The result was the creation of a "semi-public" coal company in 1969, which covered about 80 per cent of coal mines. It was based on what Dolata translates as "the German coal adjustment act."

The act mapped out a "controlled phaseout" that allowed workers at closing coal mines to find work at other mines within the company, and offered retraining to other employees.

While Germany was subsidizing the coal industry, it also invested in new economic opportunities in the region, including car manufacturing, textile factories and universities.

Energy transition not just about climate

Germany's last hard coal mine closed in 2018 and a full phaseout of coal power generation is planned for 2038 as part of the country's climate plan.

Carter says there's an economic case for Canada to invest in new industries like Germany did.

"If we know that global oil demand is declining … preparing for that and preparing communities and workers is really … an essential act to take right now," she said.

Germany's coal phaseout slowed down in the 1970s and 1980s when the global oil crisis hit, but by the 1990s things started to change.

"In 1997, the German government at the time announced that it would no longer be willing to subsidize coal the way it did before, and that really was a major turning point," said Dolata.

Again, miners took to the streets, prompting renewed government support for workers. Her father, Werner Dolata, found out that he would start his own phaseout to retirement early, at age 53. While it meant some financial loss, he was happy for the new plan, calling it Geschenk des Lebens, roughly translated to "gifted life."

Not all workers were as well protected as Dolata's father, she said. For example, women working in stores in mining towns who lost jobs as their workplaces closed.

"That's for me the interesting parallel when we even talk about Alberta," said Dolata. People who aren't directly employed in the sector may have fears or "trepidations about what would happen to a region that is so defined and identifies with one energy carrier," she said.

In January, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith called the term just transition "divisive, polarizing language." In March, the federal government released its Sustainable Jobs Plan, dropping the term just transition.

"This has become almost a moral battle.… Either you believe that we need to stop producing oil and gas or you don't," said Dolata. "That's a very different battle than saying we need to make sure that people keep their jobs."

Dolata thinks a key lesson Canada could learn from Germany is the role that unions played in negotiating with industry and government to provide support for workers.

A spokesperson with the Natural Resources Canada said the federal government plans to release its sustainable jobs legislation by the end of 2023.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Molly Segal

Climate and environmental journalist

Based in Vancouver, Molly Segal covers climate change for CBC Radio’s What On Earth, which received the inaugural Canadian Journalism Foundation award for climate solutions coverage. Molly’s producing and documentary work has taken her to the UN climate talks in Glasgow, in search of elusive wolverines in the Rocky Mountains, and riding along with ranchers to learn how to get along with wolves. Molly was a 2019-2020 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she studied the history of scientific misinformation and climate change technologies. Share story ideas to molly.segal@cbc.ca.

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The government has simplified permitting procedures for onshore wind and supports vocational training programs to build a skilled renewable energy workforce .

Title:

Content: World

Berlin against, Rome is silent, Paris in favor. Nuclear power explodes in the EU

Germany closed three reactors in 2021 and plans to do the same with the other three in 2022. Belgium shares the same idea, “shut down” its seven plants by 2025. Spain, which has some reactors in operation as well, does not consider them “green” at all. Luxembourg dismisses the proposal to include the atom in the green taxonomy as a “provocation”. Austria of the atom does not want to know, with 82% of its primary energy production made from renewables (data 2019), and is studying a legal action against the Commission. France is delighted to see nuclear power (77% of its domestic production) taken into account by Brussels. Italy, which is fond of Minister Cingolani’s idea of increasing its gas extractions, is currently silent and at least hopes for a golden rule to exclude “green” investments from the calculation of the deficit. A few days after the publication of the draft of the European Commission on the green taxonomy, the distances between the 27 instead of narrowing, are widening and if yesterday they seemed divided, today they show themselves to be shattered.

The definition of the green taxonomy is fundamental in orienting investments: with the “green” stamp, industrial and infrastructure projects can be much more attractive for private capital. However, the decision to include nuclear and gas in the EU’s green taxonomy has met with harsh criticism already in recent weeks, when rumors had not yet taken the form of a draft Commission. The technicians from Brussels and the team of experts who collaborated in the drafting of the central document for the definition of the EU energy planning in the context of the Green New Deal tried to circumvent the foreseeable resistance by introducing some conditions for the two sources that are not neutral with respect to the climate and the environment. Nuclear and gas, first of all, will be considered compatible with the green taxonomy only for a defined period of time and “to the extent that they contribute to the transition towards climate neutrality and do not significantly damage the environment”, according to an official of Brussels. “The Commission sees the future energy mix as a predominantly renewable or low-carbon energy system. We really hope that this proposal will help bring about the change we need and channel private funding towards low-emission energy sources ”.

In fact, it means that investments in nuclear power will be “green” only if the projects presented have a well defined plan, funds and site for the disposal of radioactive waste in total safety. Building permits will only be allowed until 2045. It is worth remembering that at the moment there is still talk of third generation or third plus nuclear power. Not the fourth, the (slag-free) fusion that experts believe may have a role on an industrial scale no earlier than the middle of the century. As for gas, investments in power plants will be green only if they contribute to emissions of less than 270 grams of CO2 equivalent per kWh and replace more polluting fossil fuel plants. They will need to obtain a building permit before 2030.

On gas, the Commission’s conditions appear much more stringent. It is a non-solid fossil source, certainly less polluting than coal and to which Italy looks with interest, having unused methane deposits. Moreover, in a European context of high prices and constant reduction of supplies from the main supplier, Russia, for reasons of a geopolitical nature. But it is on nuclear power that the clash risks worsening at the community level.

“We believe nuclear technology is dangerous,” government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit told reporters in Berlin, noting that the question of what to do with the radioactive waste remains unresolved. Hebestreit added that Germany “expressly rejects” the EU assessment on atomic energy and has repeatedly affirmed this position towards the Commission. Germany is now considering the next steps to take. Germany is set to shut down the remaining three nuclear power plants later this year and phase out coal by 2030, while its neighbor France aims to modernize existing reactors and build new ones to meet energy needs. Berlin plans to rely on natural gas until it can be replaced by non-polluting energy sources. The opposite paths taken by two of the EU’s largest economies have led to an embarrassing situation for the Commission. The draft EU executive branch concludes that both nuclear power and natural gas can be considered sustainable under certain conditions for investment purposes.

Hebestreit said the German government’s goal is to use natural gas only as a “bridge technology” and replace it with non-polluting alternatives such as hydrogen produced from renewable energy by 2045, the deadline the country has set for becoming climate neutral. . The spokesman did not say whether Chancellor Olaf Scholz supports the opinion of the Minister of Economy and Climate Robert Habeck that the European Commission’s proposals are a form of “greenwashing”.

Germany has pulled the plug on three of its last six nuclear power plants. The Brokdorf, Grohnde and Gundremmingen C reactors, operated by the E.On and Rwe utilities, were closed on December 31st after 35 years of operation. The last three nuclear power plants – Isar 2, Emsland and Neckarwestheim II – will be shut down by the end of 2022. However, closure does not mean decommissioning, which will take much longer and is expected to take place by 2040 in the case of Brokdorf, for example. .

In 2021, the six nuclear power plants contributed about 12% of electricity generation in Germany. The German energy mix consists of 41% renewables, 28% coal and 15% gas. By 2030, Germany aims to meet 80% of energy demand with renewables. This is not the case in France where – given Eurostat 2019 – 77.6% of its energy produced comes from the atom and only 20% from renewable.

Germany is not alone in the firm opposition to the proposal put forward by Brussels: the draft “is a provocation from a procedural point of view” and “in terms of content it hides the risk of greenwashing”, wrote on Twitter the Minister of Energy of the Luxembourg, Claude Turmes, saying he is ready to “examine the proposal in detail and discuss further steps” together with Germany and Austria, equally opposed to including nuclear power among sustainable investments. The proposal was sent to governments on Friday, “in a nocturnal and nebulous action. This says a lot about transparency ”, attacked Turmes.

The same tones used by Vienna: if these are the plans “we will sue”, wrote on Twitter the Austrian Federal Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy, Leonore Gewessler, highlighting that nuclear energy is “dangerous and not it represents a solution in the fight against the climate crisis ”. Austria has no reactors and produces almost all of its energy from renewable sources.

The Spanish government also rejected the European Commission’s proposal to include nuclear and natural gas energy in the EU’s “green” taxonomy. According to Madrid, this is “a step backwards” and “a wrong signal” for the financial markets. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, stressed that “regardless of whether we can continue to invest in one or the other, we believe they are not green or sustainable energies”. Spain – he added – “is a firm supporter of green taxonomy as a key tool to have common references that can be used by investors to achieve the decarbonisation of the economy and climate neutrality by 2050”, but include nuclear and gas “It would be a step backwards,” according to the government official Sanchez. “It makes no sense and sends the wrong signals for the European energy transition as a whole,” he stressed. While admitting that both nuclear power and natural gas have a role to play in the transition, this is “limited in time”. Member States have until 12 January to provide their response to the Commission. Then, once published, it will have to pass the scrutiny of the EU Council and Parliament, where the environmentalist parties are also announcing a battle.

In 2019, France was the country that produced the largest share of energy in the EU (20% of the total), followed by Germany (17%), Poland (9.6%), Italy and Sweden (6%). ). However, the debate on green taxonomy is intertwined with energy security (or sovereignty) in a particular historical phase, marked by risks to the security of supply due to geopolitical and military reasons, as shown by the tensions on the Ukrainian border. Primary energy production in the EU in 2019 was distributed among various energy sources, the most important of which in terms of the size of its contribution were renewables, with over a third (36.5%) of the total. Second place for nuclear power, with 32.0% of total primary energy production, with France in the lead, followed by Belgium (77% of domestic production in 2019) which, however, is about to abound in nuclear power like Germany. However, all European energy production is not enough to meet its needs: more than half of Europe’s energy is imported. The EU energy dependency rate exceeds 50%.

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PoliticsGermany

Can Germany meet its ambitious wind energy targets?

February 3, 2024

Germany wants to quadruple the amount of power generated through offshore wind farms by 2030. But industry figures have cast doubt on this goal, partly due to inadequate seaport infrastructure.

https://p.dw.com/p/4c0r5

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz seems optimistic that his governing coalition — comprising his center-left Social Democrats, the Greens and neoliberal Free Democrats — will push ahead with the country's energy transition. He remains optimistic despite Germany's budget problems, despite growing bureaucratic challenges and a mood of despondency prevalent among large parts of German society.

"If we manage to achieve what we have set out to do, and I am confident that we will, then we will break with 200 years of industrial tradition and prosperity built on coal, gas and oil," said Scholz, speaking in Potsdam last Monday.

Currently, around 30% of German electricity is still generated by burning coal and gas. Wind turbines, meanwhile, generate almost half of the country's power. The government aims to shift to fully climate-neutral electricity production primarily by establishing large wind farms far out in the North and Baltic Sea.

So far, some 1,500 turbines — up 300 meters (nearly 1,000 feet) tall — have already been installed out at sea, where they can rely on strong and continuous wind. Taken together, they supply around 8.5 gigawatts of electricity. The plan is to increase the power output to 30 gigawatts by 2030.

Overly ambitious targets?

To reach this goal, Germany will have to quadruple the amount of power generated by wind turbines in just six years. Wind industry representatives, however, have warned that this could be difficult.

According to the German Wind Energy Association, only 27 new wind turbines were connected to the power grid in 2023. And several trade associations warned in a joint statement that "In order to achieve the statutory expansion targets, the expansion [of wind energy] must increase drastically by 2030."

In a  recent letter, Germany's Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency warned that establishing certain North Sea grid connections could be delayed by up to two years due to converter construction bottlenecks.

Are floating wind farms more efficient?

Stefan Thimm, head of Germany's Federal Association of Offshore Wind Energy, said "if this situation materializes or turns out even worse, it will call into question the agreed expansion targets and send a signal of uncertainty into the value chain."

Seaports key to meeting infrastructure challenges

Producing electricity through offshore wind farms is one thing, but transporting said electricity to shore through huge power cables is quite another. And so, too, is installing the large converters that turn alternating into direct current so that the electricity can be sent from northern Germany to the country's industrial heartland in the south and west.

Experts estimate that an area equivalent to the size of 270 soccer fields will soon have to be made available in German ports to grow the wind power sector.

"Seaports are key offshore wind energy hubs," said Karina Würtz, managing director of the Offshore Wind Energy Foundation. She added that they are crucial for constructing and dismantling wind farms, act as service ports for operation and maintenance and as storage and production sites.

Germany lagging behind Netherlands, Denmark

Würtz pointed out that neighboring countries like the Netherlands and Denmark have been much faster and more effective at building out their wind infrastructure.

"While the Dutch and Danish ports of Eemshaven and Esbjerg have strongly focused on the offshore wind sector in recent years and taken large market shares from German ports, the latter have increasingly turned to other business areas," she said.

Competition is fierce in the industry, with specialist converter construction companies, for example, in high demand. This is because many countries including Germany now want to grow their offshore wind power sector. Greenpeace, meanwhile, has said the German government is setting the wrong priorities, for example by investing a lot of money in liquefied natural gas(LNG) terminals.

"Instead of building completely unnecessary LNG terminals at a dizzying speed, Olaf Scholz should concentrate on setting up offshore wind farms […] to make up for delays as soon as possible," Martin Kaiser, an energy and climate expert at Greenpeace, told DW.

Kaiser said it was unacceptable that Germany's lack of converter stations and the chancellor's misplaced priorities meant Germany was failing to meet its renewable energy targets. The government built the LNG terminals after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 brought the flow of Russian gas into Germany to an end, forcing the country to import gas from several different countries instead.

Rügen residents protest LNG terminal growth in Baltic Sea

Germany lacks funds for wind

Yet the government lacks the funds to grow its offshore wind sector, as it would need to take out fresh loans. This, however, is strictly prohibited by law.

Establishing a special fund to support the sector — akin to Germany's special armed forces fund — would be a possibility. German Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Greens, also in charge of the climate portfolio, suggested setting up such a fund in the Bundestag last week to grow the wind power sector and tackle other issues.

Habeck's proposal, however, was immediately rejected by the opposition and also his coalition partner, the neoliberal Free Democrats.

This article was originally written in German

Jens Thurau Jens Thurau is a senior political correspondent covering Germany's environment and climate policies.@JensThurau

However, transmission system operators like TenneT face financial challenges adapting to the renewable grid, prompting discussions with the government about structural solutions .

Title:

Content: As It Happens

Greenpeace opposes nuclear energy. Young climate activists say that's 'old-fashioned'

Young climate activists in Europe are calling on Greenpeace to drop its stance against nuclear energy.

Scientists say the generational divide not surprising, as nuclear disasters are distant memories for some

Young climate activists in Europe are calling on Greenpeace to drop its "old-fashioned" stance against nuclear energy.

Activists from five EU countries have launched the Dear Greenpeace campaign, asking the well-established environmental organization to get on board with what they see as a necessary tool in the fight against climate change.

"It's a message of desperation from my generation to theirs," Ia Aanstoot, an 18-year-old Swedish climate activist, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.

"We are really, really desperate to have them in the struggle against fossil fuels. And it feels like a betrayal for them to be going up against nuclear power."

Greenpeace and other critics of nuclear power, meanwhile, say it continues to be too dangerous, polluting, and cost-prohibitive to be a viable solution to the climate crisis.

EU 'greenwashing' lawsuit

The Dear Greenpeace campaign is financed by the Belgium-based environmental non-profit Replanet, which says it does not accept financing from political parties or industries.

At the heart of the debate is whether nuclear energy should be part of the European Union's classification system for sustainable finance — a guide for private investors looking to fund green projects.

Greenpeace and several other non-profits are suing the EU Commission over nuclear's inclusion in that system, calling it "greenwashing."

"They were born from the anti-nuclear movement," Aanstoot said of Greenpeace.

For several years, Aanstoot participated in climate activist Greta Thunberg's Friday school strikes. Now she has applied to the EU Court of Justice to become an "interested party" in Greenpeace's lawsuit, so she can make her case for nuclear development.

"The EU's decisions on what is green should be based on science and being carbon neutral, and it should not be technology-biased," she said.

Greenpeace says investment money would be better spent on safer and cheaper renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

"We have the greatest respect for folks who are worried about the climate crisis and want to throw everything we have at the problem, but building new nuclear plants just isn't a viable solution. The top priority is to cut carbon emissions as fast and, ideally, as cheaply as possible, and nuclear fails on both scores," Ariadna Rodrigo, Greenpeace's EU sustainable finance campaigner, told CBC in an email.

She pointed to nuclear plant projects in the U.K. and France that are "behind schedule and billions over budget."

"The good news is that we don't need new nuclear. Solar and wind technologies are a much cheaper and quicker way to cut emissions, and with modern storage tech, 100-per-cent renewable systems are perfectly possible," Rodrigo said.

"We don't have the luxury of endless time and resources, so we should focus them on the solutions with the best chance of delivering."

Risk versus reward

Daniel Kammen — a professor of energy at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies nuclear engineering — says he's not surprised by this seeming generational divide.

"Youth who are convinced — accurately so, in my opinion — that the older generation do not appreciate the climate crisis … are saying if we're going to fight for the climate, we have to use all tools at our disposal," he told CBC.

He says the biggest nuclear disasters throughout history — Fukushima, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island — are, at best, distant memories for younger activists.

But despite what nuclear proponents say, Kammen says risk of another such disaster "is real and it's big."

"It's reasonable to be optimistic, but the deeper you look, the more sceptical one should be of every nuclear option."

M.V. Ramana — a University of British Columbia professor of disarmament, global and human security — says "the probability of these accidents is small — but it is not zero."

"Which means that as you build more and more reactors, there's a higher likelihood of more such accidents happening," he told CBC.

Waste and weapons

Ramana says nuclear energy is neither a desirable nor a viable solution to climate change.

"All nuclear plants necessarily produce radioactive waste. That's just part and parcel of the process of producing energy from a nuclear reactor, and there is nothing you can do to escape that," he said.

"We have, so far, not found any demonstrated, proven way of dealing with [this] waste safely anywhere in the world."

What's more, he says it's impossible to fully divorce nuclear energy from the possibility of nuclear arms development. The more countries that launch nuclear programs, he says, the greater the risk of nuclear weaponization.

But for Aanstoot, the cost-benefit analysis is clear.

"The climate crisis is such a greater risk to take that I feel like I'm a lot happier ladening my generation and the coming generations with the burden of managing a well-regulated, well-maintained and well-researched nuclear waste than I am with us having to deal with runaway greenhouse effects and massive climate disasters," she said.

Cost and time

But perhaps the biggest impediment to nuclear power, Ramana and Kammen say, is cost and time.

There's a reason nuclear plants have a tendency to run over time and over budget. Nuclear power is a complex process that requires massive infrastructure, specific expertise, and much-needed safeguards.

And as nuclear power gets more expensive, Kammen says wind and solar have only gotten cheaper and better.

"Every dollar you spend on nuclear power or building a nuclear reactor is a dollar that you're not spending on some other more feasible climate solutions," he said.

Aanstoot and her colleagues argue that solar and wind power alone can't generate enough power to meet the demands of an electrified future.

"We're going to need electric transport, an electrified industry and everything. We need a lot of stable electricity, and wind and solar will not cut it," she said. "And that means nuclear."

Kammen says the idea that renewable sources like solar and wind can't meet demand is "nuclear propaganda."

"Whether you do big grids with renewables, or small grids, it's reliable, it's scalable, it's cheaper," he said.

Looking to the future

There are two types of nuclear power that do have potential, says Kammen.

One is the use of modular nuclear reactors. Smaller an cheaper than traditional reactors, they're seen as a stopgap measure during a broader transition to wind and solar power. There are several in the works in Canada, but experts remain divided about their benefits

The other, Kammen says, is nuclear fusion.

Currently nuclear reactors generate energy by separating heavy atoms in a process called fission. Fusion, by contrast, forces atoms together. Unlike fission, it doesn't create radioactive byproducts, has no risk of nuclear meltdown and cannot be used to make nuclear weapons.

But it's also a process scientists are just beginning to unravel, and experts say we're decades away — at best — from putting it to practical use.

"There is absolutely no chance that anybody alive today is going to see commercial nuclear fusion energy," Ramana said.

"So it's not going to be, I think, something which we should even think about in terms of dealing with climate change. The climate problem is here and now — not in 50 years or 60 years."

Interview with Ia Aanstoot produced by Kate Swoger

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In summary, Germany’s move away from nuclear energy was driven by safety concerns, public opposition, and a commitment to carbon neutrality.

In summary, Germany’s move away from nuclear energy was driven by safety concerns, public opposition, and a commitment to carbon neutrality.

In summary, Germany’s move away from nuclear energy was driven by safety concerns, public opposition, and a commitment to carbon neutrality.

The loss of nuclear power has increased reliance on coal and gas, complicating climate goals and exposing vulnerabilities in energy security, especially amid the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The loss of nuclear power has increased reliance on coal and gas, complicating climate goals and exposing vulnerabilities in energy security, especially amid the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The loss of nuclear power has increased reliance on coal and gas, complicating climate goals and exposing vulnerabilities in energy security, especially amid the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The crisis has led to emergency measures, economic challenges, and a

The crisis has led to emergency measures, economic challenges, and a