Germany pushes G20 on climate - report / No lignite mine extensions?

There will be no need to extend Germany’s open pit lignite mines if the country sticks to its climate protection targets, the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) writes in a press release. Lignite reserves in already-approved mines were sufficient to allow for power generation in line with climate targets until 2030, a study conducted by the DIW’s energy division found. Politicians must now “come up with a plan for a socially acceptable coal phase-out”, DIW-energy economist Claudia Kemfert said.

Read the press release in German here.

For background, read the CLEW dossier The energy transition and climate change and the factsheet When will Germany finally ditch coal?

Dark and calm winter days have led some commentators to suggest that renewables are unsuitable for providing a secure energy supply, reports Tamsin Walker for Deutsche Welle. Utility association BDEW argues this weather pattern proves flexible gas and coal power stations are needed to integrate renewables into the power system. But green energy provider Lichtblick told the author the problem is solvable because Germany is on the cusp of a whole new era in the way renewable power can be stored.

Read the story in English here.

For background, read the CLEW factsheet How can Germany keep the lights on in a renewable energy future?

German wind power expansion accounted for 44 percent of total capacity growth across Europe in 2016, Adam Vaughan reports for the Guardian. There was an “increasingly small number of countries connecting serious amounts of new wind power” in the EU. Germany – which already boasts three times more wind power than any other country in Europe – led the field, Vaughan writes. But despite the shrinking number of countries adding substantial wind power capacities, the total share of renewables in new power sources added to European electricity grids stood at almost 90 percent (21.1 gigawatt) last year, he explains. “Wind power overtook coal to become the EU’s second largest form of power capacity after gas,” Vaughan writes, adding that the still-more dependable power source coal met a larger share of Europe’s electricity demand.

Read the article in English here.

For background, see the CLEW dossier Germany’s energy transition in the European context.

German energy company innogy will take part in the country’s first call for tenders for offshore wind power plants with a 280 megawatt capacity project near the island of Heligoland in the North Sea, reports Jürgen Flauger for Handelsblatt. Innogy’s renewables focus over the coming years, however, will be onshore wind power expansion in Germany and Great Britain, Chief Operating Officer Renewables Hans Bünting said at an energy conference in Essen.

Read the article in German here.

Regulatory hurdles hamper flexible energy storage systems from contributing to their full potential to the success of Germany’s energy transition, Stefan Kapferer, head of utilities lobby BDEW, said in a press release. “It’s time energy storages received a legal and regulatory classification that reflects their importance and allows for a fair competition,” Kapferer said. Classifying storages as “end users” and demanding grid fees both for charging and discharging the systems was a “double burden that is put on no other technology”, Kapferer explained. Energy storages in other European countries did not have to put up with this kind of liability, leading to distorted competition on the continent, he added.

Read the press release in German here.

For background on storage solutions, read the CLEW dossier New technologies for the Energiewende.

Germany’s environment minister Barbara Hendricks believes the country might introduce a scrappage bonus for cars with combustion engines in a few years’ time. “It can’t be ruled out. We don’t have to take a decision on it in the coming two or three years. A sufficient amount of renewable power in the market is a precondition,” Hendricks told Die Welt newspaper in an interview.