Merkel seeks deal on post-nuclear energy strategy

BERLIN: Germany’s new environment minister described a planned post-nuclear switch to renewable energy in Europe’s biggest economy as a “Herculean task” as 16 state premiers gathered to discuss the complex problem with Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday.
Peter Altmaier, who took over as environment minister on Tuesday, vowed to break the deadlock between politicians, utilities, regulators and lobby groups whose clashing interests have undermined attempts to thrash out a strategy.
Since Merkel’s abrupt policy reversal last year to shut more than half a dozen nuclear plants and speed up the nuclear phase-out after Japan’s Fukushima disaster, her government has failed to set out a clear plan to manage the shift.
Industry has warned of power shortages and companies are experiencing problems with plans for offshore wind power due partly to the insufficient grid network.
Merkel suffered another setback earlier this month when proposed cuts in subsidies for the solar industry were suspended by the Bundesrat upper house, where the federal states are represented, meaning weeks more of tortuous negotiations.
“It is a Herculean task, but it is achievable,” Environment Minister Peter Altmaier told German radio, adding that his priority was to bring together all parties, ease tensions, build confidence and break the deadlock.
A close aide to Merkel and her former chief whip, Altmaier is a political big hitter who can tough out difficult negotiations and achieve results. Merkel fired his predecessor, Norbert Roettgen, after he took the blame for a humiliating regional election defeat for her Christian Democrats (CDU).
Wednesday’s talks with state premiers are unlikely to produce a breakthrough but they are set to discuss offshore wind power, grid expansion and the cuts in solar incentives. They may also address the thorny problem of where to store nuclear waste.
The government aims to boost renewable energy generation to at least 35 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050 from about 20 percents now.
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POWER GAP
At a meeting earlier this month with Merkel, utilities, grid operators and interest groups warned the switch away from nuclear could create a power gap of 10 gigawatts by 2020 - more than 10 percent of the maximum national load demand.
However, despite fears that the phase-out would mean having to buy cheap nuclear power from neighboring France or the Czech Republic, Germany is still a net exporter of power.
Altmaier called for a compromise on the planned cuts to solar energy, saying consumers could suffer if photovoltaic generation expanded so quickly “that the expansion of the grid cannot keep up.”
Highlighting the conflicting interests of Germany’s federal states, conservative Bavarian premier Horst Seehofer said his state would go it alone if there were no quick solutions.
“Then we will create a ‘Bavaria utility’,” he told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Bavaria is worried about potential power shortages and wants a quick agreement on an overall strategy, including the construction of new gas plants to plug the gap.
Other states have different priorities. Eastern states which have built up strong solar industries are vehemently opposed to the cuts in solar incentives, arguing they will destroy jobs and growth. The priority for some northern states, by contrast, is the establishment of a regulatory framework for offshore wind.