Antinuclear

Germany boosts wind power at green energy summit, DW 4 April 14, State and federal politicians have renegotiated planned reforms to Germany’s Renewable Energy Act at a summit in Berlin. They agreed to drop proposed limits on the country’s wind power facilities. Germany’s wind power industry has emerged victorious at Tuesday’s (01.04.2014) energy summit in Berlin. The talks brought together German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the country’s 16 state premiers.

The country is planning a shift away from fossil fuels and nuclear power. “We have now made the first big step to safeguard the energy transition,” said German Economics and Energy Minister, Sigmar Gabriel.

Gabriel’s initial plans to reform the country’s Renewable Energy Act (known locally as the EEG) had included drastically reducing subsidies for renewable energy power systems and capping the rollout of domestic wind power to 2500 megawatts per year.

But, southern German states like Baden-Württemberg rejected the plans. They argued that this would effectively destroy the renewable energy technology market they have built over years. States like Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein were also angry, saying the new plans would reduce their ability to create power in the wind-intensive northern states.

Wind energy blasts ahead

According to Gabriel, federal and state ministers have now moved from a top limit to a flexible cap. That means more wind farms will profit from subsidies…….

The balancing act continues

German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed her view at the meeting that the “renewable energy surcharge needs to be limited, while at the same time a path for the energy turnaround needs to be ensured.”

Both goals have been met with this new compromise, says Merkel, but there are challenges ahead……..

So far, big energy users in Germany have been excluded from paying the surcharge. The European Commission in Brussels is investigating the EEG law on these grounds.

Sigmar Gabriel says that he will continue to support this exemption, in order to help German industry. After the summit Gabriel thanked the states for their support during the EU investigation. “We are in agreement on what we have to achieve with Brussels, namely, that we have to continue to exempt energy-intensive industry in Germany from this surcharge in a way that doesn’t breach competition regulations.”

The altered draft bill reforming the Renewable Energy Act will be discussed by the German cabinet next week. http://www.dw.de/germany-boosts-wind-power-at-green-energy-summit/a-17536470

April 4, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized