The Battle of the Move to
Alternative Energy in
Germany
Roskilde
Follow-Up
MECINE-Network
Delft Meeting
14.-16. Nov. 2012
Dr. Kai Masser
German Research Institute for Public Administration /
German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer
[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
2
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
3
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
4
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
Map of renewables in BadenWürttemberg
http://www.bwco2.de/eegbw/eegbw.php
• Municipal Works. Producing corn and
other crop in Ukraine (Uelzen) or by palm
oil in southeast asia. With much
discussion about
6
Statistical
Data
from BWB
Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector
%
renewables
2010
16,8
2011
18,9
2020
38
State Office of Statistics
Baden-Wuerttemberg
%
hard coal
1973
15,0
1980
15,3
1990
14,6
2000
12,0
2010
12,4
Generation of electricity
Mill. kWh
fuel oil
natural gas nuclear energy renewables
18,1
4,8
4,6
7,0
6,4
4,4
15,1
7,9
1,6
2,5
26,6
4,2
0,4
1,9
28,9
6,2
0,3
2,6
24,0
8,6
other
0,4
0,9
0,4
0,6
2,0
8
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 (!)
9