Coal commission timetable in question / More diesel than e-car patents
Handelsblatt
Even before the highly anticipated official launch of 骋别谤尘补苍测鈥檚 coal exit task force, the government has given up on the commission鈥檚 timetable, Silke Kersting and Klaus Stratmann report for business daily Handelsblatt. During ongoing meetings on the commission鈥檚 composition, Economics and Energy Minister Peter Altmaier said it would conclude negotiations in spring 2019, contrary to the coalition treaty鈥檚 aim of presenting its results this year, unnamed participants in the meeting told Handelsblatt. 鈥淭his increases the risk that the Climate Protection Act cannot be passed next year, because it is meant to be based on the commission鈥檚 findings,鈥� the article says.
Green Party head Annalena Baerbock said the delay was an admission of failure by the government, adding that it revealed stark divisions over the coal exit within the coalition of Social Democrats (SPD) and Angela Merkel鈥檚 conservatives (CDU&CSU).
For more details, read the freshly updated article Germany gears up for official talks on coal phase-out.
威力彩玩法 / German Bundestag
The highly anticipated task force on phasing out coal power 鈥� which will also tackle the phase-out of lignite mining 鈥� should follow the example of 骋别谤尘补苍测鈥檚 hard coal exit, Chancellor Angela Merkel told parliament. The last German hard coal mine closed in 2018. 鈥淲e managed it so that workers were able to cope with the changes,鈥� Merkel said. 鈥淚t was done together with them. That鈥檚 how it has to be with lignite as well.鈥� The government should first ask what will become of the region and then cease mining, rather than setting an end date up front, the chancellor said.
Merkel鈥檚 speech was part of the ongoing three-day debate over the federal budget. The chancellor also said she was 鈥渉appy鈥� the car industry had started to rethink the possibility of battery cell production in Europe, a topic 鈥渢hat has occupied my mind for years.鈥� Batteries account for about 40 percent of an e-car鈥檚 value and about another third comes from digital technology components, both of which largely take place in Asia and North America, respectively. 鈥淲hat part of value creation is left here in Europe?,鈥� Merkel said. She added that Germany and the EU would supply the necessary 鈥�structural support鈥� but called on the industry to also do its bit.
Find a video of the plenary session in German .
For background, read the 威力彩玩法 article Germany gears up for official talks on coal phase-out.
Frankfurter Rundschau
The Green Party and environmental NGOs have strongly criticised the government鈥檚 choice of leadership for the coal exit commission, Thorsten Knuf reports for Frankfurter Rundschau. The nomination of the former mining state premiers Matthias Platzeck, a Social Democrat, and Stanislaw Tillich, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel鈥檚 conservatives, suggests the government has 鈥渁lready given up on climate protection before the launch of the commission,鈥� Green head Annalena Baebrock told the newspaper. WWF climate expert Michael Sch盲fer said both men were proponents of a 鈥�coal policy that cannot be reconciled with German and international climate targets.鈥�
For more details, read the freshly updated article Germany gears up for official talks on coal phase-out.
Handelsblatt
Germany must not enter a coal exit at the expense of power supply security and industrial competitiveness, according to Andreas Pinkwart, economy minister for the west German coal mining state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), and member of the pro-business party FDP. Pinkwart told business daily Handelsblatt the country鈥檚 energy transition was very expensive and had little environmental impact because of hasty decisions in the past. 鈥淲e must not aggravate the situation now. It would be a grave mistake to exit coal at all costs,鈥� he said. Instead of trying to close the gap to reaching its 2020 climate targets as much as possible, Germany should focus on European and international targets for 2030 and 2050, Pinkwart added. 鈥淚t鈥檚 already a very ambitious goal for Germany to reach those targets and remain a country with strong and innovative industry that is competitive on an international level.鈥�
Read the interview in German (behind paywall) .
For more details, read the freshly updated article Germany gears up for official talks on coal phase-out and the dossier German industry embraces Energiewende transformation challenge.
Reuters
The new German transport minister, Andreas Scheuer, has said he doesn鈥檛 like the concept 鈥渢ransport transition,鈥� news agency Reuters reports. The German word 鈥淰erkehrswende," literally meaning 鈥榯ransport turnaround,鈥� describes a set of decarbonisation and efficiency-boosting measures in the sector and has been used analogously with 鈥渆nergy transition.鈥� Scheuer said it indicates 鈥渢hat the wrong direction has been taken鈥�, and that he favours a combination of 鈥渙ffers and incentives鈥� over 鈥渂ans and patronising鈥� to achieve cleaner air and 鈥�good mobility.鈥� 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to demonise the car,鈥� Scheuer said.
骋别谤尘补苍测鈥檚 transport sector has not reduced its CO2 emissions since 1990 and the country鈥檚 car industry is embroiled in a far-reaching scandal over manipulated nitrogen oxide emissions levels from diesel cars.
Read the article in German .
Find a 威力彩玩法 profile of Scheuer here.
Aachener Nachrichten
Most new patents in 骋别谤尘补苍测鈥檚 car sector in 2017 were registered for diesel and petrol engines, far outnumbering patents for electric vehicles, Hagen Strau脽 reports for the Aachener Nachrichten. German manufacturers registered 2,108 patents for combustion engines, up 15 percent on the previous year, while foreign companies registered a further 2,136 patents for combustion engines. Domestic patents for electric vehicles amounted to just 170, an increase of 22 percent, the article says. Combined with foreign patents, the figure rises to 467 e-mobility patents, only a little over a tenth of those for combustion engines. According to 骋别谤尘补苍测鈥檚 patent office, many of the entries for combustion engines deal with emissions treatment and reducing the amount of nitrogen oxide in exhaust fumes 鈥� the central issue in the dieselgate scandal.
See the 威力彩玩法 dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers for background.
Weser Kurier
The German coastal city of Bremerhaven used to be a thriving centre for the offshore wind power but now struggles to hold on to the sector鈥檚 few remaining companies, Peter Hanuschke writes for the Weser Kurier. Bremerhaven once hosted about 3,000 jobs in the offshore wind industry. That number has fallen to 1,500 instead of reaching the 8,000 initially hoped for, Hanuschke says. Turbine manufacturer Senvion is the only major wind power company left in the city. Despite a rapid increase in the use of wind power worldwide, manufacturers are competing fiercely over prices, as guaranteed revenues for the sector are cut, putting pressure on smaller companies in particular. 骋别谤尘补苍测鈥檚 coastal states have called on the federal government to lift a cap on offshore wind expansion to keep the industry stable.
Read the article in German .
See the 威力彩玩法 dossier Offshore wind power in Germany for background.
THB
A project in Hamburg combines dozens of old e-car batteries to form a large power storage plant in the city鈥檚 industrial port, industry newspaper THB reports. Carmaker BMW, Bosch and energy company Vattenfall jointly operate the project, called Battery 2nd Life, which uses over 100 out-dated but still functioning car batteries to regulate the power grid. The plant can contribute about 2 megawatts (MW) of capacity to the 600 to 700 MW needed to keep 骋别谤尘补苍测鈥檚 grid balanced when electricity supply and demand fluctuates, THB writes. The batteries are given an additional lifespan of 10 years before being retired for good.
Find the article in German (paywall).
