The Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) said that an agreement has been reached with the lignite power station operators Mibrag, RWE and Vattenfall on putting 2.7 GW first into a special reserve and then later close the plants down. Minister Gabriel considers this to be important for reaching Germany’s climate targets.
Archive for the 'Conventional' Category
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I had the pleasure of chairing a great session on “Hot topics on gas supply arrangements” at the IBA’s Annual Conference in Vienna.
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On 1 October, Oxera and Bird & Bird will be organising an afternoon seminar in on “Capacity Mechanisms in the Energy Turnaround – Risks for Market Participants? The seminar will cover important current energy state aid law questions, and will be held mainly in German. It is free, but places are limited. Please send me an if you are interested.
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Various newspapers have started to published initial information on a ministerial draft for the new Electricity Market Act (Strommarktgesetz). The draft contains many elements from the the White Paper presented at the beginning of July and the government agreement of early July. It rejects proposals to introduce a capacity market, and instead relies on the concept of an “electricity market 2.0”, with additional capacity, climate and grid reserve mechanisms to secure generation adequacy.
The so-called SAIDI index (System Average Interruption Duration Index), which indicates the average time of interruptions of the gas supply per connected end consumer, went up from just 0,64 min/a in 2013 to 1.257 min/a, the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) informed. This is comparable with other years in the period 2006 and 2012. Including an accident at a high-pressure pipe that did not effect standard rate customers (Tarifkunden), the SAIDI index for 2013, however, went up to 16,801 min/a.
A ministrial draft for a recast of the Combined Heat and Power Act (KWKG) is now available on the internet. KWKG promotes power generated in CHP plants as well as heating and cooling networks and the respective storage facilities. The draft does not change the goal of a share of power generated in CHP plants of 25% by 2020, but contains many other amendments. They correspond mostly to the key points we informed about on 17 July 2015. The Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industry (BDEW) has voiced criticism and demanded changes.
A recent Bloomberg article points out that German electricity wholesale prices keep falling, reaching a 12-year low on Monday. The article also talks about reasons and names winners and losers.
Continue reading ‘Bloomberg: German Electricity Wholesale Prices Tumbled to 12-Year Low on Monday’
According to calculations by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW) for the business daily Handelsblatt, Germany’s transition towards a renewable energy supply (Energiewende) costs consumers EUR 28 billion annually. Using a standard 3 person household with 3,500 kWh consumption as a basis, this would mean EUR 270 per year . Dividing the EUR 28 billion by the number of inhabitants, this would mean EUR 345 per person and EUR 1,035 per 3 person household.
The Federal Network Operator (BNetzA) and the Federal Office for Information Security (BSIG) have jointly published a list of requirements for the safe operation of telecommunications and electronic data systems necessary for operating energy supply networks.
In early July the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) presented key points for measures to further promote the ManyElectronics transition (Energiewende) towards a mainly renewable energy supply. They included the proposal to gradually transfer some of the oldest coal-fired plants with a capacity of 2.7 GW to a capacity reserve (for which a cost-based remuneration would be paid) and close down the plants four years thereafter. The department of European Affairs that advises Parliament (Bundestag) has expressed doubt about the compatibility of the plans with EU law, the spokeswoman for climate policy for the Green Party and media sources said citing from the unpublished report.
