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I wouldn't call Germany's Energiewende a success story since Germany has the highest electricity prices in EU: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explaine

I wouldn't call Germany's Energiewende a success story since Germany has the highest electricity prices in EU: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Electricity_price_statistics https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php... You may call it "the lobby power" but there seems to be no choice for the heavy industry than to use coal, thanks to nuclear phase-out.

crdoconnor 8y ago
German coal usage has been on the decline since 2013. It's actually become something of a political issue (because of the lost jobs). In 2010-2013 renewables apparently couldn't keep up. Since 2014 they appear capable of replacing all other end of lifed power plants.
pgeorgi 8y ago
> the highest electricity prices in EU The renewable parts of that is bound to go down: As part of the push to renewables, when spinning up capacity, you get prices guaranteed for 20 years. The different to market rates is spread across the whole market ("EEG Umlage", "renewable energy law contribution"). But: that law is approaching 20 years now and so in 2021 the first installations will drop out of that subsidy scheme. Prices and guaranteed rates were dropping ever since, and so will the subsidies - with a delay of 20 years. > there seems to be no choice for the heavy industry than to use coal Comparing the numbers in 2000 and 2017 (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromerzeugung#Bruttostromerzeugung_nach_Energieträgern_in_Deutschland https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromerzeugung#Bruttostromerze...), coal used to account for more than 50% of power generation in 2000, down to 36.6% in 2017. Even in absolute numbers to account for the rise in total power production, coal is less in 2017 than in 2000. Petrochemicals are up from 9.5% to 14.1% though. Non-regenerative power was 436.5 TWh in 2017, down from 538.7 TWh in 2000.
- eukgoekoko 8y ago
  The stats you have provided are the numbers for the whole electricity generation, while I was talking of the heavy industry alone. I am not an expert, but AFAIK for steelmakers in particular it is crucial to have a reliable constant power supply, which neither solar nor wind can provide (let alone steel production itself relies on coal).

crdoconnor 8y ago

German coal usage has been on the decline since 2013. It's actually become something of a political issue (because of the lost jobs). In 2010-2013 renewables apparently couldn't keep up. Since 2014 they appear capable of replacing all other end of lifed power plants.

pgeorgi 8y ago

> the highest electricity prices in EU The renewable parts of that is bound to go down: As part of the push to renewables, when spinning up capacity, you get prices guaranteed for 20 years. The different to market rates is spread across the whole market ("EEG Umlage", "renewable energy law contribution"). But: that law is approaching 20 years now and so in 2021 the first installations will drop out of that subsidy scheme. Prices and guaranteed rates were dropping ever since, and so will the subsidies - with a delay of 20 years. > there seems to be no choice for the heavy industry than to use coal Comparing the numbers in 2000 and 2017 (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromerzeugung#Bruttostromerzeugung_nach_Energieträgern_in_Deutschland https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromerzeugung#Bruttostromerze...), coal used to account for more than 50% of power generation in 2000, down to 36.6% in 2017. Even in absolute numbers to account for the rise in total power production, coal is less in 2017 than in 2000. Petrochemicals are up from 9.5% to 14.1% though. Non-regenerative power was 436.5 TWh in 2017, down from 538.7 TWh in 2000.

eukgoekoko 8y ago
The stats you have provided are the numbers for the whole electricity generation, while I was talking of the heavy industry alone. I am not an expert, but AFAIK for steelmakers in particular it is crucial to have a reliable constant power supply, which neither solar nor wind can provide (let alone steel production itself relies on coal).