Land more precious than money for future Energiewende / Audi fined
威力彩玩法
The demand for land to construct wind turbines and solar power arrays is set to replace monetary costs as the central restrictive factor for renewable power expansion and will become 鈥渢he new currency鈥� of Germany鈥檚 energy transition, the Energiewende, a study commissioned by the environmental organisation WWF Germany has found. 鈥�Germany has enough space聽to completely cover its power demand with renewable sources and adequately consider environmental protection at the same time,鈥� WWF Germany鈥檚 Michael Sch盲fer told journalists in Berlin.聽
According to the study carried out by the Institute for Applied Ecology (脰办辞-滨苍蝉迟颈迟耻迟), Germany will on average need 2.5 percent of the land area available in each administrative district to comply with its 2050 renewables expansion scenario, and this area could be reduced to only 2 percent if a greater focus was put on solar power expansion rather than building more onshore wind turbines. 鈥淓very form of energy generation has its downsides,鈥� which for renewables was聽their demand for land聽and resources, Sch盲fer said, adding that renewable power still was the by far most environmentally friendly form of power production.聽
Felix Matthes of the 脰办辞-滨苍蝉迟颈迟耻迟 said 鈥渢he square metres used and the length of connection lines have to become factors as important as the price per kilowatt hour (kWh)鈥� when determining the quality of a given renewable power project, but spatial requirements practically played no role in official planning procedures today. 鈥淭he installation鈥檚 contribution to the entire energy system will be more relevant than maximising an individual project鈥檚 profitability,鈥� Matthes said. He argued that a scenario with a much greater emphasis on solar power expansion allowed for more power consumption near the location of production and thus聽reduced the space required聽at marginally higher costs. 鈥淚t is crucial that we decide on our future renewables expansion path soon,鈥� Matthes said, adding that decisions made in the 2020s would determine the structure of Germany鈥檚 energy system in the 2040s.
Clarification: The WWF initially said a focus on solar power could reduce the land demand for renewables in Germany to 2.3 percent by 2050. It later corrected its own statement, saying the figure could be brought down to just 2 percent.
Find a WWF press release in German聽.
See the 威力彩玩法 factsheets on聽onshore听补苍诲听offshore聽wind power and on聽solar power聽in Germany for background.
Reuters
German premium car brand Audi, a division of Volkswagen, said it was fined 800 million euros for violations tied to heavily polluting six and eight-cylinder diesel engines, reports Edward Taylor for Reuters. Audi accepts the fine and will not lodge an appeal against it, the company said. By doing so, it said it admits its responsibility for the deviations from regulatory requirements.
Read the article in English聽.
For background, read the dossier聽The Energiewende and German carmakers听补苍诲听鈥淒ieselgate鈥� 鈥� a timeline of Germany鈥檚 car emissions fraud scandal.
Reuters
Germany鈥檚 transport ministry said it would order roughly 100,000 Opel vehicles to be recalled as part of an emissions probe, after prosecutors searched the carmaker鈥檚 offices earlier, report Hans Seidenstuecker and Irene Preisinger for Reuters. German motor vehicle authority KBA found four software programs capable of altering vehicle emissions, and ordered Opel to implement a software update in cars to remove them, the ministry said in a statement. Opel, which is owned by the French PSA Group, said in a statement it rejected any accusation of using illegal defeat devices.
Read the article in English聽.
For background, read the dossier聽The Energiewende and German carmakers.
Spiegel Online
Germany鈥檚 transport minister Andreas Scheuer uses the Opel recall 鈥渢o show the car industry in a high-publicity event who鈥檚 in charge of the emissions scandal 鈥� the state,鈥� writes Nils-Viktor Sorge for Spiegel Online. 鈥淭he government is under constant fire because the carmakers have patently walked all over it [鈥 In the Opel case, Scheuer deviates from his often soft line against industry and uses his leeway to discipline Opel,鈥� writes Sorge with reference to Opel鈥檚 rejection of聽hardware retrofits proposed by the government.
Read the article in German聽.
For background, read the articles聽Germany鈥檚 'huge step' to solve diesel crisis leaves NGOs unconvinced,听Germany's car-loving transport minister faces clean mobility challenge听补苍诲听鈥淒ieselgate鈥� 鈥� a timeline of Germany鈥檚 car emissions fraud scandal.
Frankfurter Rundschau
Germany鈥檚 renewable levy聽decreases for the second year in a row, but the government should lower household power prices by abolishing exemptions for companies that do not compete internationally, writes Joachim Wille in an editorial in the Frankfurter Rundschau. The decrease is not due to the transition to renewable auctions as the government insists, but rather to higher wholesale power prices caused by more expensive CO2聽emission certificates. 鈥淔urther actions are overdue. The real costs of climate protection must be applied, for example with an EU-wide minimum CO2聽price. [鈥 The federal government, however, opposes such proposals.鈥� It is the familiar pattern: it protects the energy companies that overslept the energy transition.鈥�
Read the editorial in German聽.
For background, read the article聽Renewables surcharge set to fall by six percent in 2019聽and the factsheet聽What German households pay for power.
Wirtschaftswoche / dpa
Power and gas grid operators Tennet, Gasunie, and Thyssengas plan the construction of a plant to store renewable power in the form of gas on an industrial scale, according to a dpa newswire article carried by the Wirtschaftswoche. A Tennet spokesperson said the pilot project near the North Sea would cost a low three-digit million euros amount, would have a capacity of 100 megawatts, and would start operating in 2022. The companies said there is no power-to-gas project in Germany with a comparable size.
Read the article聽.
Find background in the factsheet聽Power-to-gas: Fix for all problems or simply too expensive?聽and the new dossier聽Electricity storage is next feat for Germany鈥檚 energy transition.
Die Welt
罢丑别听recent IPCC report聽and this summer's record temperatures show the urgency of climate action, writes Annette Prosinger in a commentary for the conservative daily Die Welt. 鈥淭o stop Earth鈥檚 warming, we need a radical transformation of nearly all economic sectors, a revolution in energy production, and a lot of technological innovations. Not only in Germany, not only in Europe, but everywhere,鈥� according to Prosinger. 鈥淧eople have started to develop a personal attitude to climate change, and to integrate the fight against this global crisis in their way of life,鈥� writes Prosinger with reference to people refusing to take domestic flights, riding bikes instead of cars, and using renewable bags for shopping. 鈥淎fter this summer [鈥, 聽the time is ripe.鈥�
Read the opinion piece in German聽.
