nuclear-news

German government working carefully on phasing out nuclear power

Germany beefs up monitoring of nuclear shutdown, Google News By JUERGEN BAETZ, Associated Press  24 May 12, BERLIN (AP) — The German government will more closely oversee the country’s move from nuclear power to renewable energy, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday — a mammoth 10-year project for Europe’s biggest economy that has been going slowly so far.

Merkel said she will be meeting with all of Germany’s 16 state governors twice a year to take stock of the transformation’s progress and shortcomings, stressing that everything must be done to avoid blackouts and ensure affordable energy.
Critics, including Germany’s main industry lobby group, have faulted the government for a lack of coordination and demanded better, permanent oversight for one of Merkel’s most challenging projects.
In a major policy shift, Merkel announced that the government is
drafting laws which would pay utilities not just for the electricity
their gas- or coal-fired power plants produce but simply for having
them available in times when renewable energy sources aren’t
sufficient.
Merkel, who spoke after meeting with state governors, said Germany’s
energy switchover was “a great task” and added that “we want it to
succeed.”…..
Wind, solar and other renewable energy sources currently account for
some 20 percent of Germany’s electricity production and are set to
produce a third of it within a decade, reaching 80 percent by 2050.
One technological challenge is to ensure the electricity grid’s
stability, avoiding blackouts.
Currently, energy from renewable sources has priority over power
produced by fossil fuel plants, leaving those often operating below
their capacity. However, those conventional gas- or coal-fired plants
are crucial to keep the country’s power supply functioning because
they can produce electricity even when there’s no sun or wind.
Utilities have complained that their conventional plants’
profitability is too low because they are forced to operate below
capacity, which might eventually force them to shut down the plants
for good.
That has now prompted the government to make plans for a so-called
capacity market — essentially, paying utilities for keeping their
production capacity from conventional power plants ready to jump in
when renewable energies do not suffice.
“We have to harmonize the expansion of renewable energies with the
necessity of conventional power plants that are also needed,” Merkel
said.
The BDEW lobby group of German utilities welcomed the government’s
move. “It is reassuring that there is unanimity on the importance of
conventional power plants,” it said in a statement.
Germany switched off permanently the eight oldest of its 17 nuclear
power plants last year following the Fukushima disaster. The country
was still a net exporter of electricity in 2011, and its greenhouse
gas emissions decreased 2 percent last year from 2010 despite its
increased reliance on coal- and gas-fired plants….
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iVaK22_l4wjSZ6VyAMacW5hwk2Cg?docId=fa8dfe7531394279a8350fd01829f4f7

May 24, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Germany, politics