German industry is bailing on the government's renewable grid. Who will pay for it?

[wtmusic]

Though some automakers are building their own wind turbines, all are backed up by gas. Volkswagen recently said screw it, and built their own gas plant. Without big industry paying for energy, Germany won't be able to afford grid upgrades - while the rest of the country is depending on foreign imports (some nuclear) for power. In a nutshell - the Energiewende would be a bad joke if it wasn't destroying the environment.



"German automakers are caught in a quandary – how can they pay more for a clean energy surcharge tax when automotive sales are down. The problem stems from German Chancellor Angela Merkel's move to take the country further away from nuclear and toward using more renewables to power the electricity grid.

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Daimler and Volkswagen are changing over to gas-powered plants to reduce energy costs. Daimler will be opening a gas-fired plant to supply power and heat to its truck factory in Woerth, reducing energy costs about 26 percent and carbon emissions 15 percent compared to its previous energy supply. Volkswagen will also open a 70-megawatt, gas-powered station at a component plant in Kassel, and may add at least five more generators in coming years.

This year, a 47-percent hike in the clean-energy surcharge will be implemented in Germany, which could add as much as 254 million euros (about $332 million) to the combined power bills of automakers and parts suppliers in Germany. The surcharge has gone up sixfold since 2006 and the German government estimates it will cost about 550 billion euros (about $719 billion US) for plant and grid upgrades during the switch away from nuclear. That cost will be covered in part by raising power surcharges."

http://green.autoblog.com/2013/03/05/german-automakers-building-own-wind-natural-gas-plants-to-get/

[AtheistCrusader]

1. The article asks and answers it's own 'how will they pay for it' question...

So... not sure the problem.

Are the customer's balking at the power prices? Some people are willing to spend something to get something, and I don't see a lot of options that cost LESS than that. Probably considerable cost just to bring their reactors online, if they backed away from the plan, which I don't see them doing.

[wtmusic]

2. Industrial customers are balking at the government's power prices

so they're generating their own, which is raising Germany's carbon intensity.

German citizens, for now, say it's worth it. Will they still think so if they have to pay even more (as it looks like they will)? Debatable.

"At the same time, however, only half of German citizens (47%) say that the extra expense (5 euros per month for the average German household) is not going to cause them any problems. More than a third (36%) said that the price hike would cause “some problems,” while 13% believe they will not be able to pay their power bills now. The German public also seems divided over the question of whether the energy transition will succeed or not, with 49% saying it will and 46% saying it won't. "

http://www.renewablesinternational.net/most-germans-still-say-energiewende-worth-the-price/150/537/58470/

"My conclusion so far is that unfortunately Germany’s ‘renewables revolution’ is at best making no difference to the country’s carbon emissions, and at worst pushing them marginally upwards. Thus, tens (or even hundreds, depending on who you believe) of billions of euros are being spent on expensive solar PV and wind installations for no climatic benefit whatsoever.

Although I have been unable to find clear figures for the changing CO2 intensity of German electricity (if anyone has them, please post in the comments below), nuclear’s fall of 1.7% almost exactly equals the rise in renewables of 1.6% between 2011 and 2012. This means that the dramatic and admirable increase in renewable generation in Germany is simply a story of low-carbon baseload from nuclear being replaced by low-carbon intermittent supply from wind and solar (which, incidentally, also raises system costs by making the grid harder to manage due to intermittency). "

http://www.marklynas.org/2013/01/germanys-energiewende-the-story-so-far/

[AtheistCrusader]

4. Carbon free, AND isotope free.

Fitting the bill of their reaction to the risks highlighted at Fukushima, AND meeting low-carbon demands.

As long as they are ok with it, and the carbon cost of the gas turbines to back it up in periods of low production. I see no problem.

[wtmusic]

5. German power, residential and industrial, is not remotely "carbon-free" nor "isotope-free".

The periods of low production are enough to have increased Germany's carbon output to, coincidentally enough, replace the amount of nuclear that was lost. Meaning renewables are not even a wash - Germans are paying more to make their carbon problem worse. And relying on foreign nuclear generated 35 miles from their border. Bottom line, the Energiewende is a feelgood clusterfuck.

"The Energiewende, it is probably fair to say, is not really about the climate at all. It is about getting rid of nuclear power, a singular obsession of the German Greens since their birth in the European anti-nuclear movement 1970s. With Germany the only Western European nation still intent on building a large amount of additional coal generation capacity (10GW according to some reports), this marks a remarkable policy failure for European environmentalism."

http://www.marklynas.org/2013/01/germanys-energiewende-the-story-so-far/

[kristopher]

7. That might mean something but it was happening before Fukushima happened

You have once again latched onto a distortion of the truth and dedicated yourself to spreading the false meme relentlessly.
"With Germany the only Western European nation still intent on building a large amount of additional coal generation capacity (10GW according to some reports), this marks a remarkable policy failure for European environmentalism."

Facts matter. Merkel's German government took the affirmative action of reversing a policy of phasing out nuclear that was more than a decade old. At the same time they were taking that decision they also set out to build NEW coal plants to replace older plants.

Do you understand that? The SAME political and economic interests that decided to keep the nuclear plants online past their scheduled close date concurrently made the decision to build the coal plants you are now blaming on the nuclear phase-out.

Again, do you understand that?

The reasoning was that the newer plants were more efficient and would represent a net GHG reduction over the older plants they are scheduled to replace. However they still are investing in burning coal well into the future based on a desire to preserve the system built around CENTRALIZED THERMAL (COAL AND NUCLEAR) generation. The timing of their decision vis-a-vis both coal and nuclear proves that conclusively.

The only way we are going to see those large fossil plants shut down is by rebuilding the system into one that honors the economics of distributed renewable generation.

This is supposed to be a fact based forum wtmusic, so please stop spreading misinformation.

[FBaggins]

3. I wouldn't expect much cost to retore their shuttered nuclear capacity

Germany is very likely to have to cough up billions of euros in legal costs to the plants they shut down. Turning them back on would certainly cost money, but would reduce the amount owed by quite a bit more.

[kristopher]

6. German industry has NEVER participated in paying for the transition

They've been receiving energy subsidized by retail customers since forever, and now that they are going to be required to pay the actual costs of what they use they are squawking and squealing and playing the victim.

German energy company RWE to abandon crude oil, natural gas production, eyes sale of division
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 05, 2013 - 9:33 am EST


BERLIN — German energy company RWE AG says it is has decided to abandon production of crude oil and natural gas and will consider options for selling its oil and gas division.

RWE said Tuesday that selling RWE Dea AG, the oil and gas exploration and production business, would remove pressure on future capital spending and improve the company's financial situation. It didn't say when a sale might take place or name a price.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/643f9080fd714b2e83e87a40d93dd6f0/EU--Germany-RWE