The German Energy Transition – Status Quo and Perspectives
Fecha: marzo 2016
Autores: Andreas Löschel
Etiquetas: Transicción energética, Alemania, Política energética
Papeles de Energía, N.º 1 (2016)
In September 2010, the German government enacted an Energy Concept as a long-term strategy setting out ambitious targets for German energy policy until the mid of the century. After the reactor disaster in Fukushima, Japan, in June 2011 the phase-out of nuclear power was enshrined in law in an all-party consensus, rendering this system of targets yet more ambitious. The Energiewende, the transformation of Germany’s energy system, is a major challenge for a leading industrial country. It entails a fundamental restructuring of the German energy system. The present paper describes the indicator system to monitor the energy transformation and the hierarchy of targets. The developments in greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, energy security and energy efficiency are described. One of the major problematic areas emerging from the stock taking is the resulting costs of the support scheme for renewable energy. Given these developments, a special emphasis is placed on the implications of the energy transition on affordability, economic costs and competitiveness. The basic problems of the current renewable support scheme are analysed and a policy proposal is presented.