First the monitoring report from the Ministry of Economics, then the ten points from Minister Katherina Reiche: the discussion about the German energy transition is in full swing.
At the beginning of September, the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) published a study jointly prepared by Frontier Economics, a consulting firm specialising in energy issues, and GES. The study once again makes it clear that the coalition government’s plans for climate neutrality will create major problems for Germany as a business location. Transformation costs of at least €5 trillion by 2045 – for the energy system alone! – are overwhelming many companies, threatening their competitiveness.
The DIHK study now points to a different path for the energy transition, one that reconciles ambitious climate protection with economic strength, cost efficiency and international effectiveness. It leads in the direction of “All In!”, but GES’s theses on energy policy go significantly further.
For example, GES calls for an end to fixed EEG subsidies for all new wind and PV installations, as this leads to false incentives. The current annual cost to taxpayers of around 20 billion euros for the EEG feed-in tariff alone is economically unsustainable. After 25 years of subsidies, new renewables must prove themselves in the market. Furthermore, GES considers the target of 80 per cent renewables in the electricity mix by 2030 to be far too high. At the same time, GES advocates the use of domestic natural gas reserves and advanced nuclear energy (e.g. small modular reactors).
To the GES commentary on the Ministry of Economics’ 10-point programme
