Govt denies dieselgate responsibility / Nuclear exit costs rise
Spiegel Online
The German parliament鈥檚 inquiry committee into the diesel cheating scandal is set to conclude that the responsibility lay solely with carmaker Volkswagen, news site Spiegel Online reports, based on a draft of the committee鈥檚 final report. Neither other carmakers, nor the government or its agencies were to blame, Marcel Rosenbach and Gerald Traufetter write. 鈥淭he German car lobby could hardly have written itself a more thorough whitewash document,鈥� they say.
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Read background on BMW, Daimler, and VW鈥檚 vow to fight in green transport revolution on 威力彩玩法.
bizzenergytoday.com
The Auto Shanghai has become the world鈥檚 leading automotive trade show, dwarfing the German leader IAA in Frankfurt, car expert Ferdinand Dudenh枚fer writes in a column for bizzenergytoday.com. 鈥淲hile Shanghai has hosted more carmakers than ever before, the IAA is receiving many cancellations,鈥� Dudenh枚fer says. The importance of the Chinese market left companies no choice but to show up in Shanghai 鈥� the country is home to some 30 percent of the world鈥檚 customers for new cars and 鈥渟ets the trends鈥� for the industry鈥檚 future, especially with respect to e-cars, Dudenh枚fer explains. But Matthias Wissmann, president of the German carmaker association VDA, had no new input to offer in Shanghai: at the trade show, 鈥渉e lauded diesel and played down its inacceptable emissions values,鈥� Dudenh枚fer says.
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Spiegel Online
The nuclear exit bill for power companies in Germany is set to rise by some 300 million euros, Stefan Schultz writes on Spiegel Online. The nuclear fund for financing the intermediate and final storage of the country鈥檚 nuclear waste will now climb to a total of 24.4 billion euros, the article says. According to Schultz, the nuclear power companies鈥� calculations for finding future and maintaining current storage facilities had been flawed, leading the state to raise the bill retroactively. The Green Party鈥檚 Sylvia Kotting-Uhl told Spiegel Online the more money nuclear companies paid into the fund, the lower was the risk for taxpayers to pay extra money for Germany鈥檚 nuclear exit.
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See the 威力彩玩法 factsheet Nuclear clean-up costs for background.
S眉ddeutsche Zeitung
The offer by some bidders in Germany鈥檚 first offshore wind power auction to build their projects with zero financial support has raised a lot of questions, Michael Bauchm眉ller writes in the S眉ddeutsche Zeitung. 鈥淲ind parks have been sponsored by the community of power customers with billions for years,鈥� Bauchm眉ller writes, asking 鈥渁nd this is now supposed to be possible without support?鈥� If profitable offshore wind power production is possible, why should there be any more of the contested onshore wind farms, he writes. While some people are already calling for lifting the ceiling on offshore expansion, others say power sources should be evenly distributed across the country to increase efficiency and spread blackout risks 鈥� especially since the construction of transmission lines for existing offshore parks is already a very strenuous task, Bauchm眉ller explains.
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See the 威力彩玩法 article Operators to build offshore wind farms without support payments and the factsheet High hopes and concerns over onshore wind power auctions for background.
Tagesspiegel
The first so-called 鈥渕otion conference鈥� for Germany鈥檚 planned power transmission highways, dubbed SuedLink and SuedOstLink, has allowed a glimpse into the difficulties that lie ahead for the 2,000-kilometre long project鈥檚 implementation, Jens Tartler writes in Tagesspiegel. 鈥淪ometimes the planners come to close to a future industrial park, sometimes the woman from the local monument protection has objections,鈥� Tartler writes. One motion argued the power lines, which in large part are supposed to run underground after citizen protests, posed a threat to local hamster populations by heating up the soil, leading to calls for installing the lines on pylons instead, he says. The Federal Grid Agency was now concerned that too many motions put the project鈥檚 economic viability in jeopardy, Tartler adds.
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See the 威力彩玩法 dossier The energy transition and Germany鈥檚 power grid for more information.
Neue Z眉rcher Zeitung
Germany鈥檚 Energiewende is not a model for Switzerland, Christoph Eisenring writes in the Neue Z眉rcher Zeitung as the country gears up for a referendum about the Swiss government鈥檚 energy strategy 2050, which includes a nuclear phase-out. German politicians had underestimated the impact of renewables on the energy system as a whole, on conventional energy generation and on its neighbours, he writes. 鈥淭here is no reason for Switzerland with its high share in CO2-free electricity to follow the self-declared posterchild.鈥�
Writing in the same paper, Christof Forster points to differences and similarities between the two countries鈥� energy policies. Switzerland already has a high share of 60% renewable power from hydro and started later with the support for other renewables.
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Find background in 威力彩玩法 dossiers on the Energiewende and the German power market and on the impact on its neighbouring countries in The solo draws to a close and Loop flows: Why is wind power from northern Germany putting east European grids under pressure?
For an introduction to Germany鈥檚 Energiewende check out the 威力彩玩法 Easy Guide and find information on .
S眉ddeutsche Zeitung
German PV plants learn to swim: authorities in the Bavarian municipality of Eggelstetten have allowed construction of 32 floating solar power islands that are to operate on a quarry lake and provide electricity for nearby gravel plant, Christian Sebald writes in the S眉ddeutsche Zeitung. The floating 600-square-metre PV plant, 鈥渢he first of its kind in Germany,鈥� is expected to provide 89,000 kilowatt hours of power per year and is meant to operate more efficiently than its landlocked counterparts, thanks to the cooling effect of the lake, the article says. Floating PV plants, which are already operated in other countries, have 鈥渁n enormous potential鈥� in Germany, the installation鈥檚 initiator Johannes Strasser said.
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