EnBW to Spend $11 Billion on Renewable Energy Amid Germany's Nuclear Exit

[kristopher]

EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG (EBK) plans to spend about 8 billion euros ($11 billion) on renewable energy by 2020 to help plug a shortfall as Germany phases out nuclear power.

The country’s third-largest utility will add about 3 gigawatts of renewable capacity to its 3.1 gigawatts in the next 10 years, Chief Executive Officer Hans-Peter Villis said today in a copy of speech handed to reporters in Karlsruhe, Germany, where shareholders are attending their annual meeting.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on April 15 that the country plans to exit nuclear power as quickly as possible after explosions at Japanese reactors stoked safety concerns. EnBW faces added incentives to invest in alternative energy after the anti-nuclear Green party won an election in the state of Baden- Wuerttemberg, which holds 46.5 percent of the utility.

“We recognize that after the events in Japan, the majority of Germans oppose nuclear power,” Villis said in the statement. “The coming weeks will show until when and in what form nuclear power will be politically desired. Naturally, a new framework for the overhaul of Germany’s energy supply can’t be politically decided today, just five weeks after the events in Japan.”

EnBW plans ...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-19/enbw-to-spend-11-billion-on-renewable-energy-amid-germany-s-nuclear-exit.html

[BrightKnight]

1. If they want the green energy fairy to fix everything they will need to spend

a lot more than that. Also, when business and people have to pay sky high energy prices the economy will tank.

They are either going to build lots of dirty coal or import their energy.

[NickB79]

2. Germany has 20 GW of nuclear capacity

They're gonna need to build a lot more than 3 GW of renewables to turn off those reactors, not to mention energy storage systems.

That, or become much more energy-efficient as a nation (not a bad idea no matter what your energy source).