GERMANY 298 GERMANY GERMANY 1. GENERAL INFORMATION 1.1. General Overview The Federal Republic of Germany is situated in central Europe, in the north bordering on the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; in the east on Poland and the Czech Republic; in the south on Austria and Switzerland; and in the west on France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The climate is moderate and influenced by winds from the West, the eastern part has more continental character. In the lowlands of the northern part the average July temperature is 16 - 18°C, the average precipitation amounting to 600-750 mm per annum. Half of the territory is used for agricultural purpose, one third is covered by woods, settlements and traffic area take 12 %. As a result of World War II Germany was split. Until 1990 two parts named Germany existed, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG - Bundesrepublik Deutschland, named West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR - Deutsche Demokratische Republik , known as East Germany). In October 1990, the GDR joined West Germany. After the reunification Berlin again became capital of Germany. Part of the government, however, still remains in the former (provisional) capital Bonn. Area and population development is shown in Table 1. TABLE 1. POPULATION INFORMATION Growth rate (%) 1980 1960 1970 1980 1990 1996 1997 1998 to 1998 Population (millions) 55.4 60.7 61.6 63.3 82.0 82.1 82.0 1.6 (17.2)* (17.1) (16.7) (16.1) Population density (inhabitants/km²) 223 244 247 254 229 230 230 -0.4 (159) (158) (154) (149) Urban population (>5000 inh.) in 1996 as percent of total 82.4 Area (1000 km²) 357.0 * Numbers in brackets refer to former GDR data Source: IAEA Energy and Economic Database; Country Information. 1.2. Economic Indicators The gross domestic product (GDP) statistics are given in Table 2, up to 1990 separately and later on for the unified republic. Reunification has turned out to be a lengthy and difficult process. Germany has to fund improvements in infrastructure, environment, and industry in the eastern part, while many eastern companies collapsed acting in unaccustomed western competition. 1.3. Energy Situation Germany imported 61 % of its primary energy supply in 1998, including oil, which accounts for 40 % of its energy consumption. There are substantial reserves of both hard coal and lignite, the amount in place is about 5 times the recoverable quantities mentioned in Table 3. However, domestic hard coal is much more expensive than imported coal and expansion of open cast lignite mining is restricted by environmental considerations. Hydro energy anyway contributes only a small amount, and GERMANY 299 possible places are already in use, so there are no considerable reserves left. Uranium extraction is tapered off since 1991 and has more or less stopped by now. Energy statistics are given in Table 4. TABLE 2. GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP) Growth rate (%) 1980 1970 1980 1990 1996(1) 1997(1) 1998(1) to 1998 GDP (millions of current DM) 675,300 1,472,000 2,426,000 3,541,500 3,641,800 3,758,100 5.3 GDP (millions of current US$) 185,200 810,600 1,501,200 2,354,700 2,099,000 2,136,500 5.5 (40,063)* (134,301) (170,821) GDP (millions of constant 1990 US$) 623,600 1,286,700 1,501,200 1,962,200 1,710,700 1,713,300 1.6 (134,900) (213,200) (170,821) GDP per capita (current US$/capita) 3,051 13,159 23,716 28,716 25,566 26,055 3.9 (2,343) (8,042) (10,610) GDP by sector (% 1997): -Agriculture 1.1 -Industry 39.9 -Services 59.0 * Numbers in brackets refer to former GDR data (1) preliminary data Source: IAEA Energy and Economic Data Base; Country Information. 1.4. Energy Policy A central intention of the German energy policy has been to shift electricity production away from imported oil and gas towards (previously domestic) coal and nuclear power. The share of oil and gas in electricity production was reduced from the peak of 30 % in 1975 to 8 % in 1994, while during the same period the share of nuclear has grown from 9 % to 36 %, whereas that of coal has remained at around 50 %. Since the 1990's all Federal Governments promoted the utilization of renewable energy. The utilities are required by law to buy energy generated by independent producers who use renewables. High minimum payments to the small producers for the transactions are determined, around 5 to 10 times - depending on the origin - the generation price of nuclear or coal plants. Also direct government subsidies for the erection of wind and photovoltaic generators are paid. Nevertheless large scale electricity production will, for the next time, continue to come from Germany’s coal and nuclear power plants. In the past, the Federal Governments encouraged the utilities to increasingly use domestic hard coal for electricity generation, this rose to 45 million tons of hard coal per year in 1995. Subsidies were paid and amounted to 10 billion DM per annum in 1994. Since then subsidies are reduced continuously. TABLE 3. ESTIMATED ENERGY RESERVES Exajoule Estimated energy reserves in 1998 Solid(1) Liquid(1) Gas(1) Uranium(1) Hydro(2) Total Total amount in place 1,081.5 1.6 10.2 0.0 0.8 1,094.1 (1) This total represents essentially recoverable reserves. (2) For comparison purposes a rough attempt is made to convert hydro capacity to energy by multiplying the gross theoretical annual capability by a factor of 10. Source: Country Information. The governing coalition (since September 1998) decided to phase out the use of nuclear power (see also Chapter 3.2). In connection with this, the Federal Government is involved in negotiations 300 GERMANY with the utilities on phasing out the operation of existing nuclear power plants and on an agreement for radioactive waste management. If a consensus can not be reached, the coalition has decided that phasing out will be regulated by law in such a manner that no claims on compensations can arise. The Federal Government intends to establish a new consensus in politics and society on an energy policy for the long term and apt for the future. An important contribution is the "energy dialogue 2000“ between politics, economy and society groups, suggested by the Federal Ministry for Economics and Engineering (BMWi) started in June 1999. For the Federal Government it is of considerable importance to develop systems for energy supply apt for the future and to implement effective measures for improving energy efficiency and savings. Renewable energy will be increasingly supported. Furthermore the framing conditions for raising energy efficiency will be improved. Nevertheless, within the changing scope of global markets and European energy trade, the liberalization of markets for electricity and natural gas and the commitments to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases have to be taken into account. TABLE 4. ENERGY STATISTICS (primary energy) Exajoule Average annual growth rate (%) 1960 1980 1960 1970 1980 1990 1996 1997 1998 to to 1980 1998 Energy consumption - Total(1) 6.3(2.9)* 9.9(3.1) 11.6(3.8) 14.91 14.75 14.57 14.42 2.6 -0.4 - Solids(2) 4.9(2.8) 4.0(2.6) 3.5(2.5) 5.51 3.76 3.63 3.55 -1.2 -2.9 - Liquids 1.3(0.1) 5.1(0.4) 5.4(0.8) 5.24 5.81 5.75 5.75 7.7 -0.4 - Gases N/A 0.6(0.0) 2.1(0.3) 2.32 3.16 3.02 3.03 - 1.3 - Primary electricity(3) 0.2(0.0) 0.3(0.0) 0.6(0.1) 1.85 2.02 2.16 2.08 6.46 6.2 Energy production - Total 5.6(2.6)* 5.2(2.4) 5.2(2.5) 7.88 5.93 5.95 5.58 -0.3 -1.8 - Solids 5.3(2.6) 4.3(2.3) 3.7(2.3) 5.23 3.09 2.96 2.72 -1.4 -4.3 - Liquids 0.2(0.0) 0.3(0.0) 0.2(0.0) 0.16 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.0 -2.8 - Gases N/A 0.5(0.0) 0.7(0.1) 0.59 0.68 0.70 0.66 - -1.1 - Primary electricity(3) 0.1(0.0) 0.2(0.0) 0.6(0.1) 1.85 2.04 2.17 2.08 10.2 6.2 Net import (import - export) - Total(4) 0.6(0.3)* 4.8(0.7) 6.8(1.2) 7.03 8.82 8.62 8.84 11.5 0.6 - Solids -0.5(0.2) -0.4(0.3) -0.2(0.2) 0.23 0.67 0.67 0.83 -17.7 13.7 - Liquids 1.2(0.1) 5.1(0.4) 5.6(0.8) 5.08 5.69 5.63 5.63 8.3 0.6 - Gases N/A 0.1(0.0) 1.4(0.2) 1.73 2.48 2.32 2.37 - 1.8 (1) Energy consumption = Primary energy production + Net import (2) Solid fuels include coal, lignite and commercial wood. (3) Primary electricity = Hydro + Geothermal + Nuclear + Wind. (4) Electricity losses are not deducted. * Numbers in brackets refer to former GDR data Source: IAEA Energy and Economic Database; Country Information. 2. ELECTRICITY SECTOR 2.1. Structure of the Electricity Sector The total electricity industry covers the sectors "public electricity supply", "mining, processing industry and others" and "Deutsche Bahn".