A Reporter's Guide to the Energiewende
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@cleanenergywire # industry competitiveness # renewable energy / citizens‘ energy A Reporter’s Guide* to the Energiewende a coal conundrum #climate change # #transforming transport phasing out nuclear # utilities fighting for survival # # grid expansion * German energy transition 5th edition 2018 Context. Contacts. Access. Clean Energy Wire | CLEW 2018 Sven Egenter Kerstine Appunn Sören Amelang Eva Freundorfer Julian Wettengel Benjamin Wehrmann Carel Carlowitz Mohn Editor in Chief Correspondent Correspondent Programme Officer Correspondent Correspondent Dir. Media Programmes The repercussions of the country’s Ener- or political interests. We share our A Note from CLEW giewende are felt all across society and funders’ commitment to work towards the business sector, offering journalists a the decarbonisation of the economy in The Paris Climate Agreement heralds a wealth of exciting and important stories. order to limit the impact of man-made global shift to a low-carbon future to get climate change. climate change under control. As Ger- Yet, researching this massive under- many tries to follow this path, its energy taking in a foreign country is arguably a The CLEW’s “A Reporter’s Guide to the transition provides valuable lessons on difficult job, even for the most seasoned Energiewende”, now in its fifth edi- weaning a major economy off fossil fuels. reporter. This is compounded by the tion, gives journalists a starting point immense complexity of the technology for their work by highlighting the main and economics behind energy policy. At storylines of the energy transition, the same time, strong fact-based and providing lists of experts, and links to critical journalism is essential to inform key readings. the international debate about how to decarbonise the global economy. Our website, cleanenergywire.org, offers plenty more in-depth information and This is why the Clean Energy Wire (CLEW) contacts. has set out to support journalists in their work. Fully funded by two non-profit Our daily news digest and our Twitter foundations – Stiftung Mercator and feed @cleanenergywire keep readers el. Te l : the European Climate Foundation – we in the loop about Energiewende-related Email: enjoy independence from any business debates and events. witterTw e t t i @cleanenergywire 2 : 3 Our team of journalists and media professionals in Berlin is available to support journalists in their work. Martha Otwinowski Hedwig Gradmann Felix Bieler Journalism Network Manager Assistant Research Assistant We also organise workshops for jour- Nuclear phase-out . 30 nalists, offering a first-hand account of Contents Industry and Jobs . 32 the transformation. We invite reporters Utilities . 34 and editors to join our growing CLEW What is the Energiewende? And where did it Electricity market . 36 network of journalists covering energy come from? . 4 Efficiency . 38 transition and climate policy in order to #Energiewende – Targets . 6 Finance . 40 exchange views or team up on big cross #Energiewende – Key Figures . 8 border stories. Citizens’ Energy . 42 #Energiewende – Dates 2018 and 2019 . 11 COP24 in Katowice . 44 #Energiewende – Contacts . 12 But, most importantly, we provide Technology and Storage . 46 assistance, answer your questions, and #Energiewende – Reading in English . 13 Natural gas as a bridging technology? . 48 put you in touch with experts – so don’t Climate, CO emissions and fossil fuels . 14 Cities . 50 hesitate to ask CLEW. 2 The new government’s energy transi tion policy . 16 Digitalisation . 52 Sven Egenter and Energiewende history – the first four decades . 18 Geo-politics and the European Union . 54 the Clean Energy Wire team Power grid expansion . 20 Tranforming the transport sector . 22 The car industry and the energy transition . 24 Renewables (wind, solar, biogas) . 26 Energiewende legislation – the Renewable Energy Act . 28 2 3 Clean Energy Wire | CLEW 2018 What is the Energiewende? And where did it come from? he energy transition, known in Ger- The process has two key elements: radically reshaping the energy system Tmany as the Energiewende, is the as a whole. As the traditional model country’s planned transformation to a of centralised power generation is being the phase-out of nuclear power low-carbon, nuclear free economy. replaced by diverse sources of energy (by 2022) that fluctuate with the weather, the the development of renewable project’s influence goes beyond the grid energy technologies and the power market. While for now mainly focused on electricity, the Ener- However, since the introduction of giewende is also expected to transform feed-in tariffs for renewable energies other sectors like industry, housing, in the 1990s, the project has been construction, heating, and transport as Energiewende in Germany: Timeline 1973-1975 1979/1980 1986 1991 1997/2005 2000 2007 “Nuclear power? Enter the Greens Chernobyl disaster Kick-starting renew- Kyoto Protocol Renewable Energy Act EU targets No thanks!” Birth of Germany’s Green solid ifies Germans’ ables Germany, the world’s Renewables granted EU sets 2020 climate Germany’s anti-nuclear Party is founded, with resist ance to nuclear New legislation intro- sixth largest emitter feed-in tariffs and grid targets: 20% renew- movement as protests an exit from nuclear energy duces feed-in tariffs at the time, has to priority ables share, 20% GHG force plans for a nuclear energy and a renew- for renewable power reduce CO2 emissions reduction, 20% more power plant in Wyhl to able future as key Climate change under the agreement Nuclear phase-out #1 efficiency be aborted demands enters the discourse – SPD-Green government a magazine story leads and utilities agree Activists first use the parliament to establish to phase out nuclear 4 term “Energiewende” an advisory council by 2022 5 Energiewende all stakeholders are looking for ways to phase-out, but its future is now uncertain shape Germany’s “all-electric” future. as the government is under pressure to For Germany’s specific energy transition step up its efforts to cut greenhouse gas targets, see pages 6- 7. emissions. Meanwhile, entirely new busi- nesses have sprung up. Already, there are winners and losers. The big utilities’ traditional business models have been hit hard, while consumers and some businesses are concerned about higher electricity costs. The coal industry was the first to benefit from the nuclear 2010 2011 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Extending nuclear Nuclear phase-out #2 New EEG & climate Slow progress Spin-off Renewables New government The nuclear consensus is Merkel government action The Energiewende Utilities E.ON and RWE Reform Wants to focus on grid reversed by a conserva- formulates new nuclear Govt. lowers feed-in monitoring report split to separate renew- Auctions determine expansion and sector tive government phase-out by 2022 with tariffs, starts PV auctions shows climate targets ables from fossil plants renewables payments coupling large parliamentary and introduces plan to are “in serious danger” Energy concept majority after Fukushi- achieve 2020 climate Climate Action Plan G20 & COP23 Utilities shakeup Govt . sets out renewa- ma disaster targets Govt. adopts ambitious Germany tries to main- RWE and E.ON split up bles and climate targets 2030 emission targets tain climate utility innogy, separating for 2020 and 2050 for individual economic leadership, but emis- grids from generation 4 sectors sions stagnate 5 Clean Energy Wire | CLEW 2018 #Energiewende – Targets he overall objective of the Energie- tury, renewables are to cover at Sector targets for greenhouse gas reductions Twende is to reduce Germany’s least 80 percent of the country’s gross Sector 2014 status 2030 target cut from 1990 levels cut from 1990 levels greenhouse gas emissions and phase power consumption (36.2 percent in 2017). Energy 23 % 61-62 % out nuclear power, making the economy Buildings 43 % 66-67 % more environmentally sustainable. In November 2016, Germany’s govern- Transport 2 % 40-42 % ment agreed on a basic framework - the Industry 36 % 49-51 % On a national level, Germany aims to cut Climate Action Plan 2050 - for largely Agriculture 18 % 31-34 % greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent decarbonising the country’s economy Other 69 % 87 % by 2020, by 55 percent by 2030, and by up by the middle of this century. In accord- Total 28 % 55-56 % to 95 percent by 2050. The share of re- ance with the Paris Climate Agreement, Source: Climate Action Plan 2050, BMUB (2016). newables in final energy consumption is the plan fine-tunes Germany’s climate to rise to 60 percent (from 14.8 percent in goals. It includes target corridors for re- thereby threatening the entire project’s 2017) by 2050. By the middle of the cen- ducing greenhouse gas emissions in the credibility. The economy ministry’s individual economic sectors as interim 2014 Climate Action Programme detail- goals for the year 2030. The energy sec- ing additional measures and identify- tor will have to cut its emissions roughly ing CO₂2 saving potential, is likely to be by half compared to 2014 levels. less effective than predicted. And the Energiewende Monitoring Report, which As for the progress made on these tar- usually gives a progress update every gets: In autumn 2017, the environment year, has not been published in 2017 or ministry warned that Germany was set 2018 because of the drawn-out process of to widely miss its 2020 emission targets, forming a new government. 6 7 Energy transition targets Quantitative targets of the energy transition 1990 2005 2008 2016 2020 2030 2040 2050 Reduce -40 % greenhouse gas -55 % emissions -70 % % -80 - 95 % 7% % % . % 5-20 % 100 72 45 60 30 Reduce Increase share power of renewables * 80 % consumption 50 -65 % 65 % in gross power % % 4 % % consumption . 31 .6 % 35 % 90 75 96 100 -20 % Increase share Reduce of renewables primary energy -50 % in energy consumption % % 5 consumption % % . 60 % 30 % 45 % 93 100 50 14 .8 % 80 18 % Reduce energy demand in buildings % % 7 % . 80 100 93 Reduce final energy *New conditional target consumption accord ing to coalition % treaty 2018.