PV bid prices continue fall / Minister rejects EU's dieselgate charges
Federal Network Agency
Prices of winning bids for solar photovoltaic installations have gone down again in the latest round of tenders in Germany, the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) said in a press release. 27 bids for a total of 163 megawatts of auctioned capacity were successful in the sixth and last round of bids under the current Renewable Energy Act (EEG) regulations. 鈥淭his once again confirms the trend of falling prices,鈥� said BNetzA president Jochen Homann. The average successful bid was at 6.9 cents/kilowatt-hour. In the previous round it was 7.23 ct/kWh. The lowest successful bid was 6.26 ct/kWh.
Read the press release in German .
Neues Deutschland
Delays in approving the Climate Action Plan 2050聽are the reason projects for structural change in eastern Germany鈥檚 lignite mining regions aren't yet receiving funding, writes Kurt Stenger in the socialist newspaper Neues Deutschland. The specifically allocates four million euros for the 鈥渟upport of measures for the structural adaptation in lignite mining regions.鈥� The federal government said that none of this had been paid out yet due to the recent debate over the Climate Action Plan - now agreed on, as well as unfinished preparatory work, writes Stenger. 鈥淭he urgently needed support was put off due to months-long internal wrangling among certain ministries,鈥� writes Stenger.
Read the article (behind paywall) in German .
For background read the 威力彩玩法 article Coal exit dispute delays Germany鈥檚 Climate Action Plan and the 威力彩玩法 factsheet Germany鈥檚 Climate Action Plan 2050.
dpa / Focus
The German government defended its handling of the Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal, after the European Commission opened infringement proceedings against Germany and six other countries over how they have dealt with such polluters, according to a dpa story in Focus magazine. 鈥淚mmediate measures for a targeted avoidance of illegal defeat devices were put in place,鈥� a spokesman for the transport ministry said in Berlin, referring to software that enabled cars to emit more pollution than allowed by law, which carmakers had installed to bypass restrictions. The EU claims countries failed to properly enforce laws requiring them to punish polluters and did not cooperate in investigations. The German transport minister Alexander Dobrindt repeated his demand that the European Union massively reduces the current number of exceptions in its laws allowing such devices, according to dpa.
Read the dpa story in Focus.
Read the EU press release in English
Read more about the influence of Dieselgate on the聽energy transition and German carmakers in this 威力彩玩法 dossier.
NDR.de
The EU Commission should admit that it did little to ensure its own anti-pollution rules were enforced, and that carmakers were long suspected of using technology to get around emissions rules, says Sebastian Sch枚bel, ARD radio correspondent in Brussels in a commentary on ndr.de. 鈥淲ithout the Americans, emissions manipulation in Europe would not have come to light for years,鈥� he says, referring to researchers in the United States who discovered that so-called defeat devices were enabling cars to pollute more than allowed.
Read the commentary in German .听
Deutschlandfunk
The European Commission鈥檚 decision to start infringement proceedings against a number of European countries for failing to cooperate in emissions cheating investigations is 鈥渓ong overdue,鈥� writes J枚rg M眉nchenberg in a commentary for Deutschlandfunk.听 European companies have thus far only gotten a 鈥渂lack eye鈥� in Europe, while the US has imposed hefty fines, he writes. In addition, the Commission did not sufficiently go after suspicions of manipulation in the first place 鈥� only after Volkswagen was found to be cheating, he writes.
Read the commentary in German
German Energy Agency (dena)
More and more new car buyers in Germany are considering vehicles that don't just run on fossil fuels, the German Energy Agency (dena) writes in a press release. According to a survey commissioned by dena, 27 percent of respondents said they intended to buy a car with an electric, hybrid, hydrogen fuel cell or other alternative engine. This figure is in stark contrast to the share of cars with alternative engines registered in Germany, which in 2015 stood at 1.6 percent, dena writes. Most notable reasons for not switching to low-emission cars were their high price, the lack of infrastructure and doubts about the 鈥渋mmature鈥� technology, according to dena.
Read the press release in German , and an illustration of the survey results in German .
For more information about the development of Germany鈥檚 e-car industry, read the 威力彩玩法 dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers.
S眉ddeutsche Zeitung
Germany鈥檚 long-established battery producer Varta is confident that large-scale battery production for e-cars is economically viable in the high-wage country, Max H盲gler writes in the S眉ddeutsche Zeitung. 鈥淏attery cell production is definitely possible in Germany,鈥� Varta鈥檚 CEO Herbert Schein told the newspaper. The company that already provided the battery for one of the world鈥檚 first e-cars in 1888 has invested around 50 million euros over the past five years for developing modern e-car batteries together with VW, according to H盲gler. However, Varta is reluctant to fully enter e-car battery production, as large-scale manufacturing for the emerging vehicle technology still is 鈥渢oo big a number鈥� for the company, H盲gler writes.
Read the article in German . 聽聽聽聽
