nuclear-news

German power industries’ conflict of interest

German Nuke Reprieve Could Hurt Wind SPIEGEL ONLINE 14 Oct 09 Plans by Germany’s new coalition government to postpone a shutdown of the country’s nuclear power plants may delay the growth of wind energy “………….

The plan is that these turbines will one day generate 12,000 megawatts, enough electricity for 12 million households. It would take 12 medium-sized nuclear power stations to produce the same amount of electricity—and that’s where the problem lies. Each individual giant wind turbine could cost around €10 million because installing it and maintaining it at sea is extremely expensive.

Such projects can only be afforded by large corporations capable of investing hundreds of millions of euros, and the only viable players are the big German energy companies that also run nuclear power stations: E.on (EONGn.DE), RWE (RWEG.DE), Vattenfall and EnBW……………….environmental groups and energy analysts suspect the various projects will grind to a halt if the new German government goes ahead with its plan to postpone the phase-out of nuclear power stations, originally scheduled to be completed by 2020………………….”In Germany, by contrast, the company would be competing against its own fossil power business if it were to proceed with strong investment drive in renewable energy,” says Gerder.

German Nuke Reprieve Could Hurt Wind – BusinessWeek

October 15, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1