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Prolonging Germany’s aging nukes threatens renewable energy development

Germany’s largest utilities are focusing on wind power as their preferred renewable energy technology, while households and farmers are tapping solar energy to earn above-market rates for electric power.

Germany’s Extension for Nuclear Power Threatens Offshore Wind Investments, Bloomberg, By Jeremy van Loon – Sep 7, 2010 The German government’s plan to extend the phase-out of nuclear power risks hampering investment in offshore wind turbines, a technology that may provide much of the country’s renewable energy by the middle of this century.

Utilities including E.ON AG and RWE AG may cut their investment in the industry to compensate for a tax of 3 billion euros ($3.9 billion) a year they will be charged, said Charlie Hodges, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The levy on nuclear-plant operators is meant to support renewable energy.

“It’s probably detrimental for offshore,” Hodges said. “Keeping that much nuclear power online means electricity prices will be stable and maybe even with some downside potential. That suggests less investment” in wind energy……

“The decision is step backward to the energy technology of yesterday,” said Hermann Albers, president of the German Wind Energy Association. “The government is squandering the potential for wind energy.”

Solar Sidestepped……The proposals sidestepped questions about Germany’s solar industry, which accounted for more than half of world demand for photovoltaic panels in the first half of this year.

Germany’s largest utilities are focusing on wind power as their preferred renewable energy technology, while households and farmers are tapping solar energy to earn above-market rates for electric power.

Yesterday’s decision “puts the brakes” on investment worth billions of euros and “cements the baseload-oriented oligopoly” tilted toward nuclear power and fossil fuels, Albers said.

Germany’s Extension for Nuclear Power Threatens Offshore Wind Invest

September 7, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Germany, renewable | antinuclear, climate change, energy efficiency, renewable energy, renewables, solar, wind