When talking about the Energiewende, observers tend to look to Germany and Western Europe as pioneers. Robert Brückmann argues that we need to broaden our attention, as more and more countries around the world restructure their power generation – and gives South East Asia as a convincing example.
Year: 2013
Energiewende – let's look beyond Europe!
When talking about the Energiewende, observers tend to look to Germany and Western Europe as pioneers. Robert Brückmann argues that we need to broaden our attention, as more and more countries around the world restructure their power generation – and gives South East Asia as a convincing example.
Brussels, feed-in tariffs, and state aid
After the summer break, EU officials are back to work, and their long-awaited plans for state aid in the energy sector are taking shape. Craig Morris says there is good news and bad news – and a lack of clarity.
Reforming the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) – Equitable cost-sharing
In his series on how German energy policy needs to change, Craig Morris has focused on keeping costs down, but today he talks about spreading them around fairly. The issue is not just industry exemptions, but also grid costs in general.
Hamburg citizens vote to buy back energy grid
On September 22nd, citizens in Hamburg, Germany’s second biggest city, not only re-elected Angela Merkel as chancellor but also gave their electoral mandate to the city authority to buy back the energy grid in their Hanseatic city. Why? Because they concluded that the private sector cannot be trusted with public services – and that community ownership and participatory governance is the way to go, notes Anna Leidreiter.
Reforming the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) – An end to feed-in tariffs?
In his last post, Craig Morris discussed two market failures and argued that energy corporations need to assume more responsibility for risk in the energy transition. Today, he adds two more market failures and says small investors can shoulder more of the burden, but only if they have more information.
Reforming the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) – Market solutions for market failures
Germany does not yet have a new coalition, but the debate about German energy policy reform is in full bloom. Today, Craig Morris talks about the changes that would affect energy corporations – and can’t help noticing the German penchant for market-based instruments and efforts to limit governmental intervention.
Local, Decentralized, Innovative: Why Germany’s Municipal Utilities are Right for the Energiewende
What role do municipal utilities play in the German Energiewende? In many cases, they have become the drivers of local innovation, reports Paul Hockenos.
Tweets to the Telegraph
Assaults on the Energiewende continue unabated. Craig Morris says rebuttals are becoming hard to write because the arguments in the original articles do not flow from one to the other.
Community ownership – is it crowdfunding?
Recently, the UK’s Sam Friggens spoke of community ownership in Germany as crowdfunding. Craig Morris wondered why he had never heard the Germans call it that, and he could think of two reasons – one small, the other big.