The Battle of the Move to Alternative Energy in Germany
RoskildeFollow-Up
MECINE-NetworkDelft Meeting
14.-16. Nov. 2012
Dr. Kai MasserGerman Research Institute for Public Administration /German University of Administrative Sciences [email protected]
The political arena / Different players with different agendas/ goals
• Group A. (large parts of ) the federal government, (most) northern/eastern states, big energy utilities
• Group B. (most) southern/western states, municipalities, citizen co-ops
•Group C. (green) fundamentalists, citizen initiatives
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Strategic / Tactical Positions
• Group A. “Think big”. Huge plants, large grids. Preservation of old primary energy carriers (coal), Slow down of change. Otherwise: Blackouts (in winter) & an enormous rise in prices
• Group B. Acceleration of change. Decentralized / local solutions, mix of technologies. Smart grids. Local monetary benefits
• Group C. Energy saving instead of production. Preservation of each and every animal or “not in my backyard” (wind mills
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Battle Line
• Group A. Defense / Retreat, no central control over states (e.g. Bavaria, municipalities)
• Group B. Attack / Advance, financial/monetary incentives (profits): “this is a material world and i am a material girl” , grassroots movement, growth industry
• Group C. Guerilla / Resistance, ideological / theological / moralistic
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Evidence / Examples
Group A (Pilot Projects)
• Building up a large (north to south) grid framework, planning with citizens’ participation , residents can buy shares (obviously an adaptation to the grassroots movement)
• Stuttgart (EnBW, big supplying company, Conversion of Bio Gas to Natural Gas (Using the left-overs of the cities green wholesalers)
• Building up a smart grids in rural areas (counties) by RWE (big supplying company), Allowance of flexible local reaction to supply and demand 5
Evidence / Examples
Group B (A Selection)
• K-Town County. Establishment of an Energy Company (wind & solar) by the county, the municipalities, the municipal works and the county savings bank
• Michelfeld/Schwäbich Hall / Mainhardt /Wüstenrot. Municipal energy companies, purchase of the local grids from EnBW
• A lot of energy co-ops by citizens (mostly solar panels)
• Municipal Works Speyer. Building wind parks in other areas
• Municipal Works. Producing corn and other crop in Ukraine (Uelzen) or by palm oil in southeast asia. With much discussion about
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Map of renewables in Baden-Württemberg
http://www.bw-co2.de/eeg-bw/eegbw.php
Statistical Datafrom BWB
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State Office of StatisticsBaden-Wuerttemberg Generation of electricity Mill. kWh
% hard coal fuel oil natural gas nuclear energy renewables other1973 15,0 18,1 4,8 4,6 7,0 0,41980 15,3 6,4 4,4 15,1 7,9 0,91990 14,6 1,6 2,5 26,6 4,2 0,42000 12,0 0,4 1,9 28,9 6,2 0,62010 12,4 0,3 2,6 24,0 8,6 2,0
Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector% renewables
2010 16,82011 18,92020 38
Conclusion
• The move to alternative energy is out of control. The energy sectoris changing much faster than planned, because everywhere new approaches appear “out of nothing”
• Biogas/Biomass seems to become an important storage medium
• It could be the hour of municipalities and municipal works. Together with the citizens there is to (re)gain control over the energy supply and distribution and improve the municipal budget (!)
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