"Electricity managers wary of centre-right government"

Managers in the utilities sector seem wary of a centre-right coalition of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and the business-oriented Free Democrats (FDP) after September’s federal election, although the pairing has traditionally been seen as business leaders’ favourite, Angela Hennersdorf writes in business magazine WirtschaftsWoche. The coalition of the two parties in the country’s largest federal state North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has set out to “revamp” the Energiewende policy, including a slow-down in onshore wind power installations. Energy sector leaders fear yet another turn-around at the federal level after companies such as utility RWE’s spin-off innogy and E.ON finally shifted full-force into renewable energy, Hennersdorf writes. However, she quotes Andreas Pinkwart, FDP economy minister in NRW, as saying that the new NRW government does “not want to undo the Energiewende, but ensure that it finally follows market rules.”

Find background on the election in NRW here and key points of the coalition treaty here. The CLEW dossier Vote2017 provides background on the parties’ positions ahead of the federal election.