Challenges and Solutions for an Integrated Renewable Energy Market in the Upper Rhine Region: Socio-Cultural Issues and Actors’ Interactions
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Fonds européen de développement régional (FEDER) Europäischer Fonds für regionale Entwicklung (EFRE) RES-TMO – WP4 – Action 4.2 – November 2020 Working Paper – Challenges and Solutions for an Integrated Renewable Energy Market in the Upper Rhine Region: Socio-Cultural Issues and Actors’ Interactions Philippe Hamman, Marie Mangold, Maurice Wintz and Patricia Zander, UMR SAGE The Interreg RES-TMO (Renewable Energy Sources in the Trinational Metropolitan Region Oberrhein1, February 2019-January 2022) European project aims to examine the conditions for the development of a renewable energy market in the trinational metropolitan region of the Upper Rhine2. Seven work packages (WP) have been defined to analyse the technical, economic, regulatory, political and socio-cultural issues involved in developing a regional energy system based on renewable energies. The team working on WP4, composed of researchers from the SAGE research unit3, studies the socio-cultural conditions for the development of a renewable energy system in the Upper Rhine region. The goal is both to examine 1) the conditions required for key players (energy suppliers, network operators, associations, decision-makers...) to be able to work together across national borders; 2) the acceptability of social innovations involving citizens in local production of renewable energies. This working paper4 presents first an overview of the current development of renewable energies in the Upper Rhine. In a second and third part, we present our main research questions and hypotheses, then describe our methodological approach, based on field surveys. The fourth and fifth sections describe our first results, derived from the analysis of the interactions of key players involved in the development of a trinational energy market, and, more specifically, of the issues raised by citizen energy. In a final part, we then formulate recommendations for an increased cross- border integration of renewable energies in the Upper Rhine. 1) An overview of the energy system in the Upper Rhine: different energy transitions for different local territories European policies all consider that increasing the share of renewable energies in the energy mix is a prerequisite to the decarbonisation of energy systems in order to achieve climate policy objectives5. EU member states have in particular committed to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050. Yet the energy transition (or Energiewende in Germany) required needs to be examined as a plural phenomenon, dependent on the different conceptions and instruments supporting its development and on the specific socio-cultural contexts of countries and energy areas6. Within the Trinational Metropolitan Region of the Upper Rhine (TMR), Switzerland, 1 See the dedicated website: https://www.res-tmo.com/en/ 2 The trinational Upper Rhine area, which is situated around the border between France, Germany and Switzerland, was made into the Trinational Metropolitan Region of the Upper Rhine as a result of exchanges between political, economic and civil society actors at the 10th Tripartite Congress in Freiburg im Brisgau in 2006. It was officially recognized by Paris, Berlin and Bern on Dec 9, 2010, at the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the French-German- Swiss Intergovernmental Commission in Offenburg, and is now at the center of many cross-border cooperation projects. Source: http://www.rmtmo.eu/fr/la-region-metropolitaine.html 3 “Societies, Actors, Government in Europe” research unit, UMR 7363, CNRS/University of Strasbourg. 4 We would like to thank the trainee students from the Strasbourg Institute of Urbanism “City, environment and societies” master’s programme who worked on WP4: Flandrine Lusson and Mathilda Wingert (2019); Aude Dziebowski and Sophie Henck (2020). 5 On RES policies in Europe, see: Evrard Aurélien, 2013, Contre vents et marées. Politiques des énergies renouvelables en Europe, Paris, Presses de Sciences Po. 6 See Baggioni Vincent, Burger Céline, Cacciari Joseph, Mangold Marie (eds.), 2019, Repenser la transition énergétique. Un défi pour les sciences humaines et sociales, Rennes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes; Christen Guillaume, Hamman Philippe, 2015, Transition énergétique et inégalités environnementales. Énergies renouvelables Germany and France have all set national targets for a significant increase of renewable energies and a reduction of fossil fuels and nuclear energy7. Yet the energy policies or energy mix are not exactly similar in the three countries, which can have an impact on the possibility of cross-border cooperation in the Upper Rhine region. In this paper, we’ll go more in-depth into electricity, as the main focus of the RES-TMO project. However, to have a holistic picture of the energy sector, we need to keep in mind that electricity accounts for about 23% of final energy consumption in the EU (Eurostat, 2017) with other sectors (i.e. burning fossil fuels in industry and households, incl. for heating and cooling) being responsible for a large share of GHG emissions8. In Germany, the Climate Action Programme 2020 (Aktionsprogramm Klimaschutz 2020), adopted in December 2014, set the target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2020 compared to 1990. It was expanded by the Climate Protection Plan 2050 (Klimaschutzplan 2050) whose goal is to achieve “climate neutrality” by 2050: the plan has thus defined quantified emission reduction targets for each sector and aims for a global decrease of greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990. At the same time, the 2017 RES Act (Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz 2017 – EEG-2017) aims to increase the share of electricity produced from renewable sources in gross electricity consumption, that is reach 80% of RES in the electricity mix by 20509. Currently, the share of RES in the German electricity mix is already relatively high (see diagram below), and accounts for 41% of the overall electricity mix. It is largely dependent on the energy produced by wind turbines and photovoltaic panels. Although nuclear production in Germany is limited (13%), fossil fuels, particularly coal and lignite power plants, still represent a significant share of electricity production (46%), which should be gradually reduced with the objective of closing these plants by 203810. The state of Baden-Württemberg, for example, launched a campaign to promote photovoltaic installations and published in May 2020 an ad hoc practical guide addressing municipalities in the following terms: “In order to make the transition to a secure, affordable and climate-friendly energy supply, solar energy must be massively developed in the coming years. [...] With photovoltaic systems, you reduce your electricity bill and protect the municipal budget. Start today, because it’s worth it”11. et implications citoyennes en Alsace, Strasbourg, Presses Universitaires de Strasbourg; Christen Guillaume, Hamman Philippe, Jehling Mathias, Wintz Maurice (eds.), 2014, Systèmes énergétiques renouvelables en France et en Allemagne. Synergies et divergences, Paris, Éditions Orizons; Hamman Philippe, Vuilleumier Stéphane (eds.), 2019, Sustainability Research in the Upper Rhine Region. Concepts and Case Studies, Strasbourg, Presses Universitaires de Strasbourg; Schumacher Kira, Krones F., McKenna Russell, Schultmann Frank, 2019, “Public Acceptance of Renewable Energies and Energy Autonomy: A Comparative Study in the French, German and Swiss Upper Rhine Region”, Energy Policy, vol. 126, p. 315-332. 7 For instance, Germany has committed to definitely phasing out civil nuclear energy by 2022. In France, the 2015 Act for energy transition planned to reduce by half the share of nuclear energy in total energy production by 2025, an objective which has since then been postponed to 2035. In Switzerland, the “energy strategy 2050”, which was adopted in 2014, forbids the construction of new nuclear power plants and sets targets for their progressive dismantlement. 8 See for instance: https://res-tmo.com/en/resources/default-title-1/default-title-4 9 Trion Climate, 2019, Trinational Climate-Energy report. 10 Les Échos, 16/01/2020: https://www.lesechos.fr/monde/europe/la-fermeture-des-centrales-a-charbon-allemandes- peut-commencer-1163623 11 Photovoltaik in Kommunen. Solarenergie sinnvoll einsetzen, Solar Cluster Bade-Wurtemberg, Mai 2020 (translated into English). 2 In France, a country which has long been attached to its “centralised tradition and technostructure”12, civil nuclear power has guaranteed a certain degree of energy independence. The French energy mix has also relied on a massive and growing use of fossil fuels since the end of the Second World War, a “hard energy path”13 which has translated until recently into only limited use of renewable energy sources since they were considered as less competitive than nuclear power14. The 2015 Energy Transition for Green Growth Act has nevertheless planned to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030. The share of RES in electricity production should then be raised to 40% by 2030. Today, RES account for 21% of the French electricity mix mainly due to hydropower facilities: many dams and hydroelectric power plants on the Rhine make the exploitation of this renewable energy source visible in the TMR. Yet, hydropower has been exploited for many years and has now reached maximum capacity on the Rhine (except for micro- hydroelectric power plants), which has prompted reflection about new sources of renewable energy. Electricity production in France is mainly based on nuclear power