Germany to speed up power market reform, Economy Minister
German Economy Minister, Robert Habeck, said on Monday that the country will spend the majority of this year preparing its power market for greater reliance on renewable sources by the end of the decade.
Habeck seeks to transform the 550-terawatt hours (TWh) market as demand rises, and production shifts to more sporadic sources in line with the climate commitments of Europe’s biggest economy.
“We will complete the majority of the necessary work in 2023,” he said at a consultation on power market reform.
By 2030, Berlin wants to produce 80% of its energy from wind and solar, a goal that has become more urgent since a decline in Russian fossil fuel exports to Germany last year.
The government will set up tenders for gas-fired power capacity to support fluctuations in green energy as more dependable nuclear and coal production is phased out, Habeck said.
He emphasised that a plan for the tenders would be ready this quarter, and that gas would eventually be replaced by lower-carbon substitutes like hydrogen produced by electrolysis using clean energy.
According to Habeck, Germany’s plan may set it apart from some other EU nations that cling to more reliable sources of energy.
Creating alternative baseload, he believed, will be a specific challenge. “It will be similar to teaching an elephant to dance, in a way,” he added.
Industry representatives have argued, however, that Germany should be realistic and open to learning from other countries’ mistakes.
According to Samuel Alt of Siemens Energy, Britain introduced a ‘capacity market’ in 2014 to entice investors into renewable energy and drastically reduce its carbon intensity. He subsequently advised that Germany to “look at what worked elsewhere to save time.”
The tax credit incentives for renewable resources proposed by the U.S. administration are “a very, very interesting option,” according to Daniel Hoelder, a representative of renewable resource developer Baywa r.e.
Source: Energy Ghana
