Warning against coal exit / No more traffic accidents in 2025?
E-World Essen
State economy minister warns against decreed coal exit
Garrelt Duin,听economy minister for Germany鈥檚 largest federal state - North-Rhine-Westphalia - warned against a听government-decreed exit from coal-fired power generation. Speaking at the E-World energy trade fair in Essen, he said that at this stage, such a policy-led move would risk structural ruptures and threaten supply security. The minister, a Social Democrat, argued that听Germany鈥檚 ambitious climate targets were compatible with the agreement reached at the global climate summit in Paris, and additional measures unnecessary. He said Germany would continue to need conventional power generation in the future, and quoted North-Rhine-Westphalia's state premier saying plans for a coal exit 飞别谤别听鈥渧ery theoretical鈥�.
At the same event, the head of think-tank Agora Energiewende*, Patrick Graichen, reiterated his organisation鈥檚 position that a planned, orderly exit from coal was needed to provide planning security for all involved. At a side-event on Monday, Rainer Baake,听state secretary at the federal energy ministry, raised the听federal ministry鈥檚 plan for a round-table of stakeholders in the issue, which should meet for the first time this autumn.
See a 威力彩玩法 report on proposals for a coal exit here.
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Frankfurter Rundschau
鈥淎fter brown coal鈥�
Every region must find its own way to cope with the end of lignite mining and power generation, writes Sabrina Schulz, head of the Berlin office of NGO E3G in a guest article for the Frankfurter Rundschau. She points to the eastern German lignite mining region if听Lusatia, where people remember the structural changes following German reunification well. It doesn鈥檛 make sense to simply promise employees and their families that renewable businesses will replace the big energy companies and coal miners will become wind power engineers. This is an unlikely scenario and it would be more honest if civil society and science came together to develop ideas and concepts for the region.
Read the article in German .
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Die Welt
鈥淪igmar Gabriel鈥檚 strange agenda for wind parks鈥�
Many businesses believe energy minister Sigmar Gabriel's plans to boost the chances of citizens鈥� cooperatives bidding for wind farm tenders do not make sense, writes Martin Greive in Die Welt. Utility E.ON told the author it was common practice to offer citizens a stake in onshore projects anyway, and that the new rules were unnecessary.
On Monday, Gabriel鈥檚 ministry proposed making cooperatives听exempt听from providing certain costly documents in order to bid under a new system to be introduced with upcoming reform of the听Renewable Energy Act.
鈥淭he government also wants to balance out lower yields at locations with less wind with higher feed-in tariffs. Power consumers will have to pay for these subsidies for inefficiency,鈥� Greive writes.
Read the article in German .
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Frankfurter Rundschau
鈥淐limate policy鈥檚 blind spot鈥�
An energy transition in the transport sector is desperately needed to supplement the Energiewende in the power sector - but not yet in sight, writes Joachim Wille for Frankfurter Rundschau. 鈥淨uite the contrary: People step on the gas. The climate balance of transport is a disaster,鈥� writes Wille. 鈥淩oad traffic is the blind spot of climate policy 鈥� and it grows due to cheap petrol,鈥� traffic researcher Helmut Holzapfel told Wille. Wille says the听Paris Agreement requires a fundamental change in transport policy. E-mobility alone is not the answer because much of the power to drive electric vehicles still comes from coal, he writes.听鈥淚t should be the duty of 鈥楥limate Chancellor鈥� (Angela Merkel) to push this agenda,鈥� said Holzapfel. 鈥淚t鈥檚 fatal she hasn鈥檛 done it yet, despite Paris.鈥�
See 威力彩玩法's dossier on the energy transition in the transport sector here.听
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鈥淢obility 2025: Without accidents and congestion鈥�
New IT systems will completely transform transport infrastructure and could lead to mobility without accidents or congestion by 2025, according to a study by the Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies (VDE). 鈥淣ew technologies for information and communication will not only revolutionise traffic, but also the present car industry. They will bring together the automobile and communications industries, and might even fuse them together,鈥� said VDE project manager Patrick Ester in a press release.
Find the press release in German .
Download the study in German .
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Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
鈥淕ermany 8 billion euros short for nuclear phase-out鈥�
German nuclear power station operators have not put aside sufficient funds to cover for the decommissioning of reactors and storage of nuclear waste, Hendrik Kafsack writes for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The report is based on an EU Commission听internal paper听seen by the newspaper, which says the funds available will cover only 83 percent of the 45.7 billion euros needed for Germany's nuclear clean-up between now and 2050. But Germany is not the only one - aside from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, all other European countries face even bigger problems covering future nuclear costs, the article says.
Read the article in German .
Read a 威力彩玩法 factsheet about nuclear clean-up costs here.
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S眉ddeutsche Zeitung
鈥淚n the end citizens will pay鈥�
The expert commission on financing the nuclear clean-up costs has sent a clear signal: The German taxpayer should not have to pay because power station operators put aside insufficient provisions for decommissioning and radioactive waste storage, writes Markus Balser in an opinion piece for S眉ddeutsche Zeitung. Nonetheless, the government will have to opt for a compromise, because forcing ailing utilities to pay for the whole clean-up likely damage their business to the extent they would be unable to contribute to future waste storage costs. As with bailouts for the financial crisis, Balser says, in the end profits are privatised and losses nationalised.
See a 威力彩玩法 factsheet on securing utility payments for the nuclear clean-up here.
