Germany's energy transition in the media on 17 October

Die Welt

 “Energy transition: think-tank proposes new green power surcharge”

 Green electricity is priced so cheaply that these renewable facilities will have to be paid a “capacity premium” in the future to ensure that investments are profitable, say researchers from the Institute for Applied Ecology (Öko-Institut) and the think-tank Agora Energiewende. Die Welt’s Daniel Wetzel reports on a study on the EEG3.0, yet another reform of the only recently refurbished Renewable Energy Act (EEG, the researchers re-think the energy market). With both renewables and conventional power sources unlikely to receive enough financing through the sale of electricity per kilowatt-hour, in future producers could be rewarded not for the amount of electricity they produce but for the contribution they make to the stability of the power system.

For the article in German see here.

dpa / taz – die tageszeitung

 “Costs of the nuclear phase-out: Vattenfall wants 4.7 billion Euros”

 Swedish utility Vattenfall is claiming damages as a result of Germany’s decision to phase-out nuclear energy by 2022. In 2011, the German government ruled for the immediate shut-down of Vattenfall nuclear reactors at Krümmel and Brunsbüttel and Vattenfall sued the state at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment (ICSID) in New York for lost value of investments and profits. Energy Minister Sigmar Gabriel has now revealed the size of Vattenfall’s claim as 4.7 billion euros. 

For the article in German see here.

Forbes

 “Germany’s Renewable Energy Surcharge Declines”

 William Petland in Forbes reports on the first reduction in the renewable energy surcharge in Germany in 14 years. Germany has invested more money in the development of renewable energies that any other country, he writes, largely through the surcharge used to fund subsidies to the industry.

For the article in German see here.