The study thus basically further documents the real reason for the shift from feed-in tariffs to auctions: it wasn’t about price, as lots of people assume; the goal was to give policymakers a way to...
All the stats you ever wanted to know about Germany's energiewende (auf Deutsch)
Öko-Institut and DWI have produced a new cost indicator for industry. The researchers find that German industry bills are down by 10 percent relative to 2010, the year before Chancellor Merkel’s...
This chapter in The Triple Challenge for Europe focuses on the German Energiewende which was designed as a long-term strategy in support of a transition to sustainability in energy supply. It was...
However, the international Energiewende reporting makes me want to rub my eyes. If one is to believe those reports, industry is fleeing because energy costs are going through the roof.
The feed-in tariff, or "FiT", is financed through a levy on the electricity bills of households and small enterprises. It is not paid out of public budgets, nor does it diminish fiscal revenue. By...
The desperate attempt to reframe the Energiewende as an “energy mess” shows what the real threat is: Germany is poised to prove that a low-carbon future without nuclear is the best option for a...
Second, there has been no surge in coal power during the nuclear phase-out. In fact, total coal power production (both lignite and hard coal) fell by six percent last year alone.
Germans consume only a third as much electricity as Americans do. Their power bills are thus not so large.
Craig Morris at Renewables International has pointed out a startling chart in IZES (Institut für ZukunftsEnergieSysteme) report comparing auction systems to feed-in tariffs in Germnay. (Auctions are...[more]
As an American living in the EU, I sometimes marvel at the ability of Europeans to adopt best practices from each other. Likewise, I marvel at the tendency of Americans to label foreign best...
Feed-in tariffs only pay for power produced, which depends on the weather – and no one can guarantee that.
MYTH: Germany has figured out that the feed-in tariff does not work, so they are canceling it and opting for net-metering instead. . . FACT: The German feed-in tariff has largely been a remarkable...
Major English-language media have been propagating a false narrative about the stunning success of Germany’s transition to renewable energy: the Energiewende. To hear them tell it, the transition has...
Over the past two years, Renewables International has repeatedly argued that there will be no shift to coal power as a result of the nuclear phaseout. So it's nice to see that other independent...
In English, the current German energy policy debate sounds like no one likes the Energiewende. The Social Democrats and the Greens, who first implemented the Renewable Energy Act, don't like what...
The latest energy statistics suggests that Germany is doing much better in restraining coal used to generate electricity compared to the UK. Yet, to read the British press you would automatically...
German Environment Minister Peter Altmaier said on Friday his country would never return to nuclear energy, hitting back at a top EU official who doubted Berlin's commitment to phase out nuclear...
Over the past decade, Germany has successfully boosted renewable energy resources which today power 25% of all electricity demand. . . “The Energiewende is a bottom up switch that is driven by...
An article today in German weekly Die Zeit reveals how completely overblown the likelihood is of power outages resulting from the country's Energiewende. . .
Debunking Another Myth about Germany's Electricity Revolution--Solar Energy Now Rivals Hydro Generation--Renewable Generation Now Exceeds Generation from Hard Coal . . .[more]
No, but you wouldn't know that from the press. Craig Morris explains what really is going on with German's coal plants. . .
A thorough evisceration of a poorly researched, poorly written, sneering critique of Germany's energiewende by someone who actually knows what he's talking about--a must read. . .
Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear power after Fukushima has been painted by some international observers as “environmental vandalism” and a “panicked overreaction." Critics argue that the...
In an article published at Slate.com, Danish political scientist Bjørn Lomborg chimes in on how Germany is allegedly abandoning solar. He may not describe the situation in Germany well, but his...
The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has recently published a new report: The Myth of Green Jobs - The European Experience. It claims that clean energy technologies increase energy prices and...
Brief Analysis on the Current Debate about Costs and Benefits of Expanding the Use of Renewable Energies in Electricity Generation (Wuppertal's English-language rebuttal to right-wing, think tank...
The government in Germany has changed from the coalition that created the Feed-In Tariffs to a conservative coalition that opposed the FIT at the time, and favors a return to nuclear power and...[more]
The RWI study is therefore roughly 50 percent off the mark according to her calculation, i.e. solar is not that expensive. . .
Opponents of renewables are using the increase to claim that renewables are too expensive and should be stopped, and they are suddenly concerned about the impact on the poor – even as German power...