Page 68 - European Energy Innovation - winter 2018 publication

68 Winter 2018 European Energy Innovation

GERMANY ENERGY TRANSITION

“Home grown” problems of
the German energy transition

By Prof. Dr. Angelika Niebler, MEP

Can you imagine a life
without electricity, warmth
and mobility? Modern life
would be unimaginable
without these basic guarantees,
which is why Germany is committed
to realise a stable supply of energy,
which is economically viable and
environmentally friendly. Germany
is in the process of overhauling its
energy supply, moving away from
nuclear and fossil fuels towards
more renewables and better energy
efficiency.

Germany has put itself in an
exceptional situation. We have
committed ourselves to reach four
energy transition targets: 40 - 45
per cent share of renewables to be
reached in the power consumption
by 2025, all remaining nuclear power
plants to be shut down by 2022, 40
per cent greenhouse gas emission
reduction by 2020 (from 1990 level),
50 per cent planned reduction in the
primary energy consumption by 2050
compared to 2008.

Germany has started a new area in
energy policy in June 2011 when the
Merkel government decided in the
wake of the nuclear catastrophe in
Fukushima, Japan, to shut down eight
nuclear power plants and limit the
operation of the remaining nine until
2022. 80 per cent of parliamentarians
in the German Bundestag voted for
the bill with the remaining 20 per
cent only objecting, as they wanted
an even faster exit. Internationally,
the perception that “German angst”
caused the government to go in this
direction is misleading. The nuclear
phase out is as much a part of the
German Energiewende as the move

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