China eyes German grid operator / German carmakers slow on batteries
Handelsblatt
The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) is reaching out for a 20 percent share in Germany鈥檚 transmission grid operator 50Hertz in a bid to gain valuable insights into a business area in which China strives for a leading global role, Thomas Sigmund and Klaus Stratmann write in Handelsblatt. 鈥淧olicymakers are unable to prevent this,鈥 they write, saying that SGCC鈥檚 planned share of 20 percent is 鈥渃leverly鈥 left below the 25 percent threshold needed for German lawmakers to intervene in foreign investments into critical national infrastructure. 50Hertz is one of Germany鈥檚 four major transmission grid operators and already sources more than half of the power used in its operational area from intermittent renewable energy sources, which makes it especially attractive for state-owned SGCC, the world鈥檚 second largest company. 鈥淭he Chinese can learn a lot from 50Hertz,鈥 the authors argue, as the grid operator has proved that it is possible to uphold a stable transmission service even with large amounts of volatile energy source capacities like wind power.
Read the article in German (paywall).
See the 威力彩玩法 article Sino-German tandem: Export champions promote global energy transition for background.
WirtschaftsWoche
Concret plans for starting battery cell production are rife across Europe but Germany risks missing out on the rise of an industry branch that will be crucial for its mighty car industry, Stefan Hajek and Angela Hennersdorf write in the WirtschaftsWoche. The CEOs of important German car industry companies like Bosch, Daimler or Continental constantly reiterate that batteries will be a key component of the industry鈥檚 future but shy away from announcing concrete investment plans. The demand for lithium-ion-batteries by the car industry is set to massively increase in the next years, meaning that the VW group alone could need half of the world鈥檚 newly produced cells by 2020. Supply bottlenecks already lead Asian manufacturers to break agreed supply deals for Europe and instead auction their cells to the highest bidder in China, the authors say. While the EU pushes for a common European battery consortium and Swedish and Swiss companies press ahead, German carmakers are reluctant to agree to the necessary billon-euro-investments. 鈥淣o manager of a listed company dares to do this,鈥 a sales manager of a supplier told WirtschaftsWoche. 鈥淭hey鈥檇 rather go into retirement with a diesel.鈥澛
Read the article in German .
Read the 威力彩玩法 dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers for more information.
Munich Security Conference
The Munich Security Conference included climate change and emissions pollution as some of the biggest issues for international security in its 2018 report. 鈥淚n the end, few experts doubt the long-term effects a changing climate will have on international security [鈥. While climate change will affect economic, security, and political systems all over the world, it will mainly act as a 鈥渢hreat multiplier鈥 in those states with limited capacities to deal with it,鈥 write the authors. They call for more action on exiting fossil fuel combustion, as it not only fuelled climate change, but air pollution is responsible for millions of deaths every year.
Find the full report for download .
See the 威力彩玩法 dossier The Energiewende's implications for international security for background.
klimaretter.info
The Social Democratic (SPD) state premier of coal-mining state Brandenburg is at the forefront of a 鈥淧R-battle鈥 over the energy transition鈥檚 costs that usually is dominated by sceptics in the right-wing nationalist AfD party, J枚rg Staude writes for website klimaretter.info. In an interview with news agency dpa in early January, Woidke said Germany鈥檚 鈥渆ntire Energiewende needs to be put into question鈥 and said costs from the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) amounted to 800 billion euros 鈥渇or building wind turbines and solar power plants鈥. Staude says that 鈥渁nyone familiar with the topic knows that Woidke came up with a figure that no one has ever seen before鈥. Even the AfD and the generally energy-transition sceptic Federation of German Industries (BDI) calculate with lower EEG costs. A parliamentary inquiry by the Green Party in Brandenburg about Woidke鈥檚 sources 鈥渄id not deliver any concrete results鈥, Staude says. Investigations by klimaretter.info on the 800-billion euro figure led to a single online source, the 鈥anti-Energiewende and AfD-affiliated鈥 association .
Find the article in German .
See the 威力彩玩法 news digest item Energiewende costs 鈥渦nknown鈥 to German government for background.
Tageszeitung (taz) / Tagesspiegel
The pollution of the City of Berlin鈥檚 main river Spree with sulphate stemming from coal mining activities in the neighbouring federal state of Brandenburg prompts reactions by local authorities, Claudius Pr枚sser writes in the Tageszeitung (taz). The waterworks of the city Frankfurt an der Oder in Brandenburg plan to upgrade a water treatment plant to clear the region鈥檚 water from sulphate, which in higher concentrations can be harmful for sensitive consumers, such as the very young, very old or sick, Pr枚sser says. The city wants to hold mining companies from the Lusatia region, such as Leag, accountable for the ten-million euro investment, saying it wants to 鈥渃ite the damages caused by mining and see how lawmakers and those responsible will react鈥. Pr枚sser says similar moves have not happened yet in the much larger German capital Berlin, 鈥渂ut who knows for how long 鈥 there鈥檚 no end of lignite mining activities in sight鈥.
In a separate article, Stefan Jacobs reports for the Tagesspiegel that a former open cast lignite mine in Brandenburg will soon be flooded and become Brandenburg鈥檚 largest body of water. The 鈥淥stsee鈥 will cover 19 square kilometres [Please note: corrects earlier figure of 19 million square kilometres] near the city of Cottbus, about 70 kilometres south of Berlin, and operator Leag estimates that filling the pit with water from the river Spree could take up to six years. Critics say the artificial lake will increase the risk for Berlin of higher sulphate concentrations in its drinking water supply.
Find the taz article in German and the Tagesspiegel article in German .
See the 威力彩玩法 factsheet Coal in Germany for more information.
WirtschaftsWoche
The United States government politicises the Russian-German Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project because it wants to sell its gas in Europe, Matthias Warnig, the company鈥檚 CEO told WirtschaftsWoche in a long interview. 鈥淭hey abuse the unfounded fear of a dependence for their own economic interests,鈥 said Warnig. Nord Stream 2 was simply an economic project between a Russian and five western companies. Russian gas alone will not be able to fulfil Europe鈥檚 future needs, and the European market is already so flexible that nobody depends on just one supplier, said Warnig. He warned that should the EU change regulation now at Gazprom鈥檚 disadvantage, compensation for damages could become a topic. Europe is the most important market for Gazprom and so the company 鈥渘eeds Europe as a customer鈥, writes WirtschaftsWoche.
Read the interview (behind paywall) in German .
For background, read the 威力彩玩法 news digest item Nord Stream 2: green light for 55-kilometre section in German territorial waters and the factsheet Germany鈥檚 dependence on imported fossil fuels.
pv magazine
Wind power turbines are Germany鈥檚 most important renewable energy source and in 2017 produced more electricity than coal plants for the first time, Thorsten Preuschgas, CEO of Soventix, writes in a guest commentary in the pv magazine. 聽But it is 鈥渁 false conclusion鈥 that wind power is 鈥渢he Energiewende鈥檚 panacea鈥, Preuschgas argues. Wind power production is very volatile and transmission grid operators often have to undertake costly interventions to throttle the feed-in, leading to the impression that renewable power sources are expensive per se, he says. An energy transition 鈥渦nder the aegis of wind power is bound to fail鈥, as power generated in the north cannot be transported south in quantities that would allow for shutting down nuclear plants there, Preuschgas writes. 鈥淒ecentralised solar power could play a much more prominent role鈥, as they do not need large transmission lines. While wind power was 鈥渋ndispensable鈥 for the Energiewende, its dominance 鈥渙vershadows the advantages of other energy sources鈥.
Find the commentary in German .
See the 威力彩玩法 dossier Onshore wind power in Germany for background.
dpa / Frankfurter Rundschau
The German federal state Hesse, led by a coalition of the conservative CDU and the Green Party, has hired the comedian duo Badesalz to advertise the energy transition to young people, news agency dpa reports in an article carried by Frankfurter Rundschau. Hesse鈥檚 Green economy minister Tarek al-Wazir says the three video clips with the famous Hessian duo had to 鈥済o viral to reach young people鈥, the article says. Comedian Henni Nachtsheim says he was criticised for taking sides and politicising his work by anti-wind power activists, but coming from 鈥渁 Green dynasty鈥, he would not have a problem 鈥渂eing used鈥 for promoting the transition to renewable energy sources.
Read the article in German .
See the 威力彩玩法 news digest item 鈥The Energiewende: our success story鈥 for more information.