dpa / Deutschlandfunk / Clean Energy Wire

The storm dubbed "Ciara" has pushed wind power production to a new record in Germany, temporarily boosting feed-in into the grid to nearly 43.7 gigawatts (GW), grid operator TenneT told news agency dpa in an article carried by public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk. The previous record stood at 43.4 GW. According to energy think tank Agora Energiewende*, renewables covered about three quarters of Germany's power consumption on 9 and 10 February, with onshore and offshore wind turbines contributing the lion's share. However, the storm also caused troubles for grid operators, since the record feed-in happened intermittently and even caused some turbines to be shut down for safety reasons, the article says.
According to the website energy-charts by research institute Fraunhofer ISE, wind power alone covered nearly 60 percent of net power production on 10 February, dwarfing coal-fired power production, which stood at about 11 percent on that day.

Wind, solar and other renewable sources supplied almost 43 percent of gross German power consumption in 2019, up from 38.2 percent in 2018. This marked a new annual record that already exceeds the government’s 2020 target of 35 percent, but the unprecedented output level is overshadowed by a near halt in onshore wind development. The number of new wind turbines recently fell to unprecedentedly low levels and the country is veering off track in reaching its 2030 target of a 65 percent renewables share

*Like the Clean Energy Wire, Agora Energiewende is a project funded by Stiftung Mercator and the European Climate Foundation. 

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As Germany plans to exit both nuclear and coal power generation over the next years, gas plants will become more important as a secure backup for renewables at times of low winds or little sun, said gas industry initiative Zukunft Erdgas. The government must discuss mechanisms to incentivise additional construction of new plants, such as capacity markets, the lobby group said. "We must now discuss framework conditions for investments in new power plants so that the additionally required gas-fired units are connected to the grid by 2030,” said Timm Kehler, head of Zukunft Erdgas. German energy company Uniper’s CEO Andreas Schierenbeck said Germany needs a consensus on how to ensure future supply security. “Until that is clear, nobody will construct power plants.” Zukunft Erdgas presents several mechanisms “to optimise the energy-only-market” in a separate paper, such as auctions for a “strategic capacity reserve”, a focussed or comprehensive capacity market, or simple direct payments to operators per installed capacity they keep in standby mode.

The discussion about the future role of gas in Germany’s energy transition is ongoing, with the government saying it will play an important role as a bridge fuel. In 2019, as coal use fell significantly, power generation from gas increased 11 percent, compared to the previous year. In contrast to an energy-only-market, in which operators are paid for the kilowatt hour they produce, in the capacity market they receive remuneration for the capacity they keep ready for certain situations. Germany in 2016 decided against capacity markets, as these “can be expensive and inefficient”, and instead bet on the power of the market and free price formation. Due to high operating costs, gas plants are often pushed down the merit order and throttle production, especially when there is a lot of renewable electricity available. Under the current market design, power station operators are meant to benefit from peak prices in times of scarcity, so they invest in flexible power stations, load management and storage capacity. A study by the Institute of Energy Economics (EWI) at the University of Cologne accompanying the press release looked at the current German power market design and laid out issues that could endanger supply security, concluding that more research is needed. “It is unclear whether the energy only market alone will be able to incentivise the expansion of controllable power,” said Simon Schulte, manager and head of gas markets at EWI.

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The number of air passengers in Germany is set to decline in 2020, as carriers are projected to reduce the number of available seats by 1.8 percent in the first nine months of the year, the German Aviation Association (BDL) said in its annual report. While domestic connections are poised to drop 7 percent, inner-European connections would be reduced by 2 percent, and intercontinental flights are set to grow by 3 percent, the BDL added. However, the total number of available seats this year will still be 9 percent higher than in 2016. Domestic flights accounted for about 10 percent of all flights in Germany in 2019. According to the BDL, lower demand for flights last year was mainly due to slower economic growth and the long-term effects of Air Berlin's insolvency. BDL head Klaus-Dieter Scheurle said given that international passenger numbers continue to rise, aviation urgently needed to be made more climate-friendly. He called for a joint European effort to boost the production and use of synthetic jet fuels to allow for carbon-neutral flights. "The European patchwork of national aviation taxes needs to end," Scheurle said, adding that tax income should be used for synthetic fuel research. He said national measures, such as the increase of Germany's aviation tax this April, would be "counterproductive," as they "merely shift emissions to foreign competitors."

While aviation only accounts for a small share of Germany's total emissions, it is one of the fastest-growing greenhouse gas sources and global passenger numbers are projected to grow rapidly over the next years. The government has decided on first steps to better integrate the sector in climate action policy in its climate package through higher taxes on airplane tickets. Moreover, a new "competence centre" for climate action in the aviation sector has been launched at Germany's most important airport in Frankfurt am Main in early 2020 to advance research into synthetic fuel technology.

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German government officials and MPs have cautioned against a quick introduction of a carbon border adjustment mechanism in the European Union. “Intellectually, the concept is great, but it has to be implemented in practice, and we have to do it in a way that it is manageable for our economy,” said Philipp Steinberg, Director-General of Economic Policy in the economy ministry at a discussion organised by energy dialogue platform Forum für Zukunftsenergien. The government is gauging the effects of several possible models, said Steinberg, highlighting the need for a thorough economic and legal analys. The Free Democratic Party’s (FDP) climate policy spokesperson Lukas Köhler warned using a carbon border tax to pressure other countries to act – as he said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had done at the World Economic Forum in Davos – could quickly lead to trade disputes. “Thus, I'm against a rush job.” Michael Rodi, director of the Institute for Climate Protection, Energy and Mobility (IKEM) said due to a need to act on climate, the EU should use the current window of opportunity and quickly introduce a mechanism. Asked about compliance with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, Rodi said legal certainty in the end might only come through WTO dispute settlement. “Just do it,” said the law professor. “A tax solution continues to be politically risky, because unanimity is necessary in the Council.” To minimise risks of any design, the focus should clearly be on CO₂-intensive products with a high carbon leakage potential, it must be made clear that the instrument serves climate action, and all trade partners have to be treated equally, Rodi said.

As part of the Green Deal, the new European Commission under President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed the introduction of a carbon border adjustment mechanism for selected sectors to reduce the risk of carbon leakage. This could be a carbon tax on imported goods – aligned with the products’ CO₂ emissions – if no sufficient carbon price had yet to be paid abroad. At the same time, EU exporters would be compensated for inner union carbon prices when they send goods outside the bloc. “The carbon border adjustment will be fully compliant with WTO rules,” a Commission spokesperson told Clean Energy Wire. She confirmed that the Commission is expected to make a proposal over the course of 2021, as proposed in an annex to the Green Deal communication.

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Rooftop solar and offshore wind power are the most popular technologies for Germany's future power mix, a survey by renewable energy provider Lichtblick has found. Installing more solar panels on buildings is the favourite form of energy generation for 46 percent of respondents, and 37 percent say wind turbines at sea are their preferred technology. Open-field solar power farms and onshore wind turbines follow in the ranking with 35 percent and 31 percent respectively. New coal power stations are the least preferred technology, of which only 3 percent of respondents approve. New nuclear power stations are the favourite of 11 percent and new gas plants are favoured by 8 percent. New hydropower plants range in the middle, with 29 percent of respondents saying the focus should be put on this technology. About 80 percent of respondents said they would like solar panel installations to be made mandatory on new buildings. "The solar power potential is gigantic and people are ready for a transition to solar power," said Lichtblick CEO Gero Lücking. With a view to the ongoing debate over onshore wind turbines, which are primarily built in rural areas, Lücking said "we need to bring the energy transition into the inner cities. And that can be done best with rooftop solar power."

Onshore wind power is slated to become Germany's primary power source of the future and provided nearly 17 percent to the country's power mix in 2019. However, due to licensing troubles and resistance from local interest groups, expansion plunged last year and was overtaken by offshore wind for the first time. Solar power contributed almost 8 percent to the power mix but still has a very large growth potential, as many available spaces on rooftops and open fields remain unused. By contrast, Germany will phase out nuclear power by the end of 2022 and has decided to shut down its last coal plant no later than 2038, even though one new hard coal plant, Datteln 4, is slated to enter operation this year. Gas-fired power production, on the other hand, is viewed as an important transition technology by the German government in the transition to a low-carbon power system.

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Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) pollution in Germany's inner cities is declining, but many urban areas still exceed EU limits, the German Environment Agency (UBA) has found in a preliminary 2019 analysis. The mean annual limit of 40 grams of NO₂ per cubic metre of air was exceeded at about 20 percent of the country's measuring stations, down from 42 percent in 2018. At the same time, particulate matter pollution fell to the lowest level since the late 1990s. "The federal government, the states and the municipalities have invested a lot in cleaner air and are now able to reap the benefits by measuring lower pollution levels," said UBA head Dirk Messner. However, 19 cities still exceed the limits, Messner added, cautioning that the number could still rise to 30 once all of the data has been reviewed. The UBA head said the fact that modern diesel cars cause much lower emissions shows "we could have met the limits a long time ago if older diesel cars had been cleaner.” He added that "the best guarantee for cleaner air in cities is fewer cars on the road." According to the UBA, speed limits, driving bans, cleaner buses and engine updates in manipulated diesel cars all have contributed to the decline in NO₂ levels.

Nitrogen dioxide pollution in Germany's inner cities shifted into the focus of public attention following the dieselgate scandal, which exposed that most car manufacturers were manipulating their engines to emit less pollution on the test bed than under real-life driving conditions. Many German cities since have been compelled to introduce partial driving bans for older diesel cars to comply with EU emission limits, but authorities have registered thousands of driving ban infractions since the new rules entered into effect.