Energiewende
[5][6] By 2023 the early retirement of the Country's nuclear reactors was no longer supported by the general public[7] and the plan was controversial between energy experts, fearing that it could have a negative impact on Germany's goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
[12] On 16 February 1980, the German Federal Ministry of the Environment hosted a symposium in Berlin called Energiewende: Atomausstieg und Klimaschutz (Energy Transition: Nuclear Phase-Out and Climate Protection).
The term encompassed a reorientation of policy from demand to supply and a shift from centralized to distributed generation (for example, producing heat and power in small co-generation units), which replace overproduction and avoidable energy consumption with energy-saving measures and increased efficiency.
[21] Russian fossil gas was perceived as a "safe, cheap, and temporary" fuel to replace nuclear power in the initial phase of Energiewende as part of the German policy of integrating Russia with the European Union through mutually beneficial trade relations.
Deployment corridors stipulated the extent to renewable energy to be expanded in the future and the funding rates (feed-in tariffs) will no longer be fixed by the government, but will be determined by auction.
Carbon pricing is also central to the Energiewende, and the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) needs to be reformed to create a genuine scarcity of certificates.
[49] Eva Schmid, Brigitte Knopf, and Anna Pechan analyze the actors and institutions that will be decisive in the Energiewende and how latency in the national electricity infrastructure may restrict progress.
[54] The German cabinet approved costly underground cabling in October 2015 in a bid to dispel local resistance against above-ground pylons and to speed up the expansion process.
The commission puts forward a number of measures to address the slowdown, including a flat national CO2 price imposed across all sectors, a greater focus on transport, and full market exposure for renewable generation.
"[65][66] High electricity prices, growing resistance against the use of wind turbines over their environmental and potential health impacts, and regulatory hurdles, have been identified as causes for the slowdown.
[75] In 2020 Agora Energiewende also declared a number of new fossil gas plants will be also required to "guarantee supply security as Germany relies more and more on intermittent renewable electricity".
[76] In January 2019, Germany's Economy Minister Peter Altmaier didn't want to import "cheap nuclear power" from other countries to compensate for planned phase-out of coal.
[91] The situation once again raised questions about the future of weather-dependent electricity system that is dependent on fossil energy for stability and its contradiction with the initial objectives of decarbonization.
[94] In October 2021, over 20 climate scientists and activists signed an open letter to the German Government to reconsider the nuclear exit as it will lead to emissions of an extra 60 million tons of CO2 each year and hinder decarbonization efforts even further.
[97] By end of 2021, the single largest source of electricity in Germany was coal (9.5% hard and 20.2% brown), increase of 20% compared to 2020 due to significant drop in wind (−14.5%) and solar (−5%) power output in that year.
[102] In 2023, Germany achieved its lowest greenhouse gas emissions since the 1950s with a 20% reduction, largely impacted by a decline in industrial production due to economic factors like the Ukraine war and high energy prices.
The Berlin-based think-tank Agora Energiewende attributed approximately half of the reduction to decreased coal-fired power generation, while only 15% resulted from technological improvements such as enhanced renewable energy utilization.
[105] From February 2022, there was a heated debate about pausing the nuclear phase-out and restarting still operational reactors in order to better cope with the energy crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
[92] German association of local utilities VKU said "the strategy creates significant risks to the stability of power supply in case of 'lengthy periods' of weather unsuitable for wind and solar generation since energy storage in Germany is 'largely non-existent'".
[127] A comprehensive study, published in Energy Policy in 2013, reported that Germany's nuclear power phase-out, to be complete by 2022, is contradictory to the goal of the climate portion of the program.
[129] German Economy and Energy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said in 2014 "For a country like Germany with a strong industrial base, exiting nuclear and coal-fired power generation at the same time would not be possible.
[134] It is also feared that the European Union, but particularly Germany, is making itself overly dependent on Russia for gas supplies via Nord Stream 2, thereby undermining its energy security.
Germany's electricity transmission network is currently inadequately developed, therefore lacking the capability of delivering offshore wind energy produced on the Northern coast to industrial regions in the Country's South.
[137][92] German federal audit office report published in March 2021 highlighted the very high costs of Energiewende for the household users, where taxes and fees account for 50% of the bills, and the energy price is 43% higher than the EU average.
[139] An open letter by a number of climate scientists published in 2021 calls against the shut-down of the remaining nuclear reactors in Germany, that would lead to 5% increase in CO2 emissions from the electricity sector.
[149] One reason for the high acceptance was the substantial participation of German citizens in the Energiewende, as private households, land owners, or members of energy cooperatives (Genossenschaft).
[151] Manfred Fischedick, Director of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy has commented that "if people participate with their own money, for example in a wind or solar power plant in their area, they will also support [the Energiewende].
The models are usually based on scenario analysis and are used to investigate different assumptions regarding the stability, sustainability, cost, efficiency, and public acceptability of various sets of technologies.
[169]: 8 A 2015 study uses DIETER or Dispatch and Investment Evaluation Tool with Endogenous Renewables, developed by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Berlin, Germany.
[171][172] Set in 2050, several scenarios use gas power plants to stabilise the energy system, ensuring supply security during several weeks of low wind and solar radiation.
