Germany Drives Onshore Wind Growth in Northwest Europe

But changes are coming to region’s largest wind market, according to a new Wood Mackenzie report.

A record year for installations helped Germany power growth in onshore wind across Northern and Western Europe, figures from Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables show. 

The analyst group’s Northern and Western Europe Onshore Wind Power Outlook showed Germany notched up 5.3 gigawatts of new capacity in 2017, helping to deliver a record year for onshore wind installations in the region.

Germany, Belgium and Denmark Sign Agreement to Deploy More Offshore Wind in Europe

The governments of leading offshore wind markets, Germany, Belgium and Denmark have signed a Joint Statement to further the deployment of offshore wind energy in Europe.

The signing ceremony took place this morning (6th June) at the opening of Offshore Wind Energy 2017, the industry event co-organised by WindEurope and RenewableUK in London. The signatory governments reaffirmed their commitment to deploy a significant volume of offshore wind power in Europe between 2020 and 2030 and were represented by Marie-Christine Marghem, Minister of Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development, Belgium; Rainer Baake State Secretary for Energy, Federal Ministry of Economy and Energy, Germany and Kristoffer Böttzauw, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Climate, Denmark.

 

EU Backs 600-MW Kriegers Flak Wind Farm in Danish Waters

The European Commission on March 28 determined that its support of the 600-MW Kriegers Flak offshore wind farm in Danish territorial waters is in line with EU state aid rules. The commission said the project will help Denmark reduce CO2 emissions, in line with EU energy and climate goals, without unduly distorting competition.

"The Kriegers Flak offshore wind farm will help to cut carbon dioxide emissions while the support is carefully designed to avoid distorting competition in electricity markets. I'm glad to be able to approve state support for this project," Margrethe Vestager, commissioner in charge of competition policy, said in a statement.

Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands Want to Build an Island Hub to Support 100GW of Offshore Wind

The island could also become a crucial provider of renewable-power-to-gas for Europe.

A group of European countries is looking to build a giant island in the North Sea in order to support up to 100 gigawatts of offshore wind projects. 

If built, the island would be sited on the Dogger Bank, a large North Sea sandbank where the water depth ranges from 15 to 36 meters.

German Economy Minister Calls for Further Reforms of Renewable Energy Law

Germany must carry on with legislation aimed at capping energy costs and ironing out inefficiencies in its renewable energy expansion, Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel told an energy industry gathering on Tuesday.

"It is not a matter of how quickly you build renewable power installations but how you integrate them into the energy system at reasonable cost," he said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government, seeking reelection in September this year, has further reformed its renewable energy act (EEG) this year to cut costs for consumers.

What Can Australia Learn from Germany’s Remarkable Energy Transition?

The Australian government is reviewing our electricity market to make sure it can provide secure and reliable power in a rapidly changing world. Faced with the rise of renewable energy and limits on carbon pollution, The Conversation has asked experts what kind of future awaits the grid.

The Finkel review of the National Electricity Market is an opportunity to consider how Australia can transition its electricity system to be less carbon-intensive.

Germany’s energy transition is often held up as an incredible success story. Starting from a sector relying predominantly on fossil fuels and nuclear energy in the 1990s, renewable energy now provides about 30% of Germany’s electricity.

Beyond Growing Pains: Germany’s New Normal in Renewable Energy Policy

In July 2016, the German government decided to abolish the country’s feed-in tariff (FIT) for renewable electricity generation. Instead, the government now plans to auction contracts for renewable electricity deployment to the lowest bidders.

The FIT is a policy that basically forces electric utilities to buy renewable electricity from generators for a premium price. Since 1990, the German FIT had played a key role in making the country a pioneer in the use of renewable energy. Why did Germany replace the FIT after almost three decades of unparalleled growth in renewable electricity generation?

Legal Shake-Up Threatens Germany’s Energy ‘Revolution’

In Germany, people’s power has wrought a revolution.

All over the country, citizens have formed co-operatives to build wind farms and solar arrays, in a grassroots push that has helped to make Germany a world leader in renewables.

The change is most striking in places like Saerbeck, a village of 7,200 people in the north-west that is a pioneer in collectively-owned carbon-free power. Thanks to a €75m investment in a wind-and-solar park, it is well on the way to becoming entirely self-sufficient in energy.

Berlin Makes Breakthrough With State Governments in Renewable Energy Reforms

Germany's federal and state governments have succeeded in hammering out the framework of reforms for the country's renewable energy law. Talks in Berlin continued into the early hours.

Premier ministers of Germany's 16 states met in the Chancellery in Berlin on Tuesday evening to discuss the planned reform of the Renewable Energy Act (EEG).

Speaking to reporters early on Wednesday morning, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the talks had "come a long way."

German Consul General Boasts of His Nation's Renewable Energy Policy

The Germans call their nation's energy policy Energiewende. But the literal translation of the word — energy transition — belies the green revolution behind those few syllables.

For Germany, the word is synonymous with a gradual, but nonetheless radical, shift away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy. Germany is today one of the world's leading producers of green energy, with 27 percent of its power needs generated by solar, wind and hydroelectric power, among other sources.

On some sunny days, half of Germany's energy demands are met by solar power, something critics of U.S. energy policy say remains a vain hope in the states.

Germany's Upper House Passes Renewable Energy Law

Germany's upper house of parliament Friday passed an ambitious renewable energy law which aims to mitigate the effects of the country's move away from nuclear and fossil-fuel generated power.

The upper house, which represents Germany's 16 states and which could have delayed the bill, passed the bill ending months of tough negotiations. And the reform of the renewable energy law can come into force as planned on August 1.

POWER Digest July 2014

Chile Banks on Renewable Capacity Expansion, Energy Efficiency. 

Chile in mid-May released a $650 million investment plan to reduce energy costs and promote non-hydro renewable energy development for the country that imports about 60% of its primary energy resources. The plan calls for a 30% cut in marginal power costs on Chile’s central grid, which serves 90% of the country’s citizens, by 2018. It also requires that 45% of power capacity installed between 2014 and 2025 be from solar, wind, and geothermal sources to put Chile closer to its target of producing 20% of its energy from renewables. The government also called for energy savings of up to 20,000 GWh per year. Experts have warned that Chile must triple its 18 GW capacity within 15 years to continue growing its economy (see “Chile’s Power Challenge: Reliable Energy Supplies” in the September 2012 issue). Chile’s power mix is dominated by hydropower, but droughts have left a country that has no indigenous oil or natural gas reserves energy-strapped. Beyond calling on the state oil company to boost exploration, the country also hopes to build a liquefied natural gas import terminal in the mineral-rich north.

Germany Ups New Green Energy Surcharge on Industry to Meet EU Rules

Germany on Tuesday offered to change a planned reform of its renewable energy policy, trying to end a standoff with the European Commission over green power subsidies and to meet a deadline needed to secure rebates for German industry.

In an amended draft law seen by Reuters, the government proposed that German industrial companies producing their own electricity in new renewable energy or combined heat-power plants would pay a higher surcharge than previously planned.

American and German Approaches to Energy-Climate Policy

Germany’s energy transition, or Energiewende, offers lessons for the United States, just not the ones typically cited on this side of the Atlantic. The challenges and concerns that have arisen in Germany should not be taken as indicators that the Energiewende is failed policy, or more specifically, to dismiss the importance of renewable energy.

Germany’s Renewable Energy Law Is About to Look More American

The next phase of Germany’s energy transition takes competitive markets into account.

As cost pressures mount in the German energy transition, the Merkel administration is proposing to abandon the feed-in tariff in favor of market-based policies for renewables.

The Money Problem With Germany’s Renewable Energy Law in 3 Charts

The world’s solar leader grapples with how to make its solar policies financially sustainable.

As the German government gets ready for a major overhaul of its landmark renewable energy act, the fundamental problem is cost.

The Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz, or EEG law, set up the country's system of feed-in tariffs (FITs) and mandatory purchases for independent renewable energy producers. This system has been highly successful, driving down solar costs and prices around the world. It has reduced emissions, diversified the power supply, reduced fuel imports, created jobs and driven down wholesale market prices.

German Bill Revises Energy Tax Concessions For Industry

The German Cabinet has approved a bill to modify the nation's renewable energy law (EEG) to bring renewable energy tax concessions for energy-intensive companies (EEG-Umlage) into line with European Union law.

Under the changes, companies eligible for concessions will pay 15 percent of the renewable energy levy, currently set at 6.24 cent per kilowatt-hour (kWh), up to a threshold of 4 percent of gross value added, for companies whose electro-intensity is below 20 percent. Meanwhile, the tax is capped at 0.5 percent of gross value for companies whose electro-intensity is above 20 percent.

BSW-Solar to Challenge Proposed Solar PV Self-Consumption Charge in Court

Germany's Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar) has announced that it will challenge government plans to impose the surcharge according to the renewable energy act (EEG) on solar photovoltaic (PV) systems which supply electricity directly to their owners in the nation's Constitutional Court.

The German Federal Cabinet approved changes to the the renewable energy act including applying a portion of the surcharge on green electricity to solar power self-consumption systems, on April 8th, 2014. The bill still must go to the German Parliament (Bundestag) and the Federal Council (Bundesrat).

Germany Moves Forward on Renewable Energy Plan

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government approved legislation on Tuesday revamping Germany’s sweeping plan to generate more than 40 percent of its energy needs through renewable resources by 2025 by slowing the rapid expansion of solar and wind parks in an effort to hold down spiraling prices.

Already, 25 percent of German energy comes from renewable resources, but that advance has come at a cost to consumers, who have borne the brunt of the surcharges that funded the expansion.

Germany Clears Changes to Green Energy Law

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet agreed yesterday to revamp Germany’s green energy laws to curb the high cost of power in Europe’s biggest economy and head off the threat of a political backlash.

The changes unveiled by Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel came after Brussels agreed to slow the pace of phasing out government backing for alternative energy, as a result paving the way for Merkel to press on with her ambitious energy plan — the so-called Energiewende.