In the media: Czechs ready to invest in German coal
The New York Times
鈥淕ermany, the Green Superpower鈥�
With a generous feed-in tariff 鈥渢hat made it a no-brainer for Germans to install solar power (or wind) at home,鈥� Germany has made a 鈥渨orld-saving achievement鈥� by driving down the costs of solar and wind power everywhere, Thomas L. Friedman writes in an op-ed for the New York Times. Almost 30 percent of the Germany's electricity grid has been converted to solar and wind energy in around 15 years, he says, adding that one remaining problem is that 鈥淕ermany has tons of cheap, dirty lignite coal that is used as backup power for wind and solar.鈥�
Read the op-ed in English .
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BloombergBusiness
鈥淕erman Consumers Seen Unscathed by Renewable Energy Boom鈥�
鈥淕ermany can switch its power supply to rely mostly on renewables while keeping consumer bills little changed because wind and solar plants are producing electricity at ever-lower cost,鈥� Stefan Nicola writes on Bloomberg Business, citing a study by Berlin think-tank Agora Energiewende.
Read the Bloomberg report in English .
Read a 威力彩玩法 article on the effect of renewables on power prices and power exports here.
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BloombergBusiness / E.ON
鈥淓.ON First-Quarter Profit Falls 15% on Lower Power Prices鈥�
Lower wholesale power prices saw earnings of Germany鈥檚 largest utility E.ON fall by 15 percent in the first quarter, Bloomberg Business reports. Underlying net income fell to 1.01 billion euros from 1.18 billion in 2014, Bloomberg writes. In a E.ON press statement, CEO Johannes Teyssen said: 鈥淲e already know that 2015 won鈥檛 be easy.鈥� The generation segment鈥檚 earnings were hit by overhaul work at a number of nuclear power stations and by the sale and decommissioning of fossil-fueled power plants, the press release said.
At E.ON鈥檚 annual shareholders meeting, held today in Essen, Germany, the focus was on the company鈥檚 split into two separate businesses. Supervisory Board Chairman Werner Wenning said the transformation was making swift progress and that the shareholders鈥� dividend for the 2014 and 2015 financial years would be stable at 0.50 euro per share. E.ON also published its Sustainability Report, saying it reduced its carbon emissions in Europe by 16 percent in 2014.
Read the E.ON press release .
Read 威力彩玩法's Dossier the impact of the Energiewende on German utilities here.
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Manager Magazin
鈥淣orway鈥檚 state fund pressures RWE to exit coal鈥�
Norway鈥檚 state fund, which owns a 2 percent share in German utility RWE, has demanded the company explain how and when it will phase out its coal power operations, Nils-Viktor Sorge reports in Manager Magazin. The 800 billion euro state fund has also asked RWE whether it might split into separate companies like E.ON,听Sorge听writes. Last year, the Norwegians pulled out of 14 coal mining companies, he says.
Read the article in German .
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Frankfurter Allgmeine Zeitung (FAZ)
鈥淣o fear of brown coal鈥�
Czech utility company CEZ is interested in buying Vattenfall's听eastern German brown coal operations, the FAZ reports. This includes lignite mines, power plants and hydropower stations, CEZ chairman Daniel Benes told the paper. The sale process would probably start in September and by then there would be more clarity over the German government鈥檚 energy and coal policies, Benes said. He is not particularly worried about a quick exit from brown coal, the article says. 鈥淐oal-fired power stations can be a bridge into a future with less carbon-intensive power generation (鈥�) but coal plants will exist for several decades.鈥� The CEZ group鈥檚 power plants are 9 percent hard coal, 36 percent brown coal (lignite), 48 percent nuclear and 6 percent hydropower and renewable.
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Frankfurter Allgmeine Zeitung听
鈥淓nergy security with a global energy transformation鈥�
Whether or not Germany will phase out CO2-intensive brown coal power production is not only a question of national energy policy, it鈥檚 now also a question of international security policy, writes Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International in the Frankfurter Allgmeine Zeitung. The world is watching Chancellor Angela Merkel, to see if she is brave enough to make Germany the first large industrial country to free itself from dependency on nuclear and fossil energy sources, he writes. War and conflict over fossil resources can today be overcome, Naidoo says. Alternative energies exist 鈥� China invests heavily in them and even the conservative International Energy Agency projects that solar energy will become the dominant power source globally in the coming years, the author writes. It is positive that under Merkel鈥檚 leadership, the G7 has agreed to combat climate change. But in order to be taken seriously at the upcoming G7 meeting in Bavaria, Merkel must push through the climate levy on old coal-fired power stations in Germany, Naidoo concludes.
