We had an excellent session on adapting transmission grids to the structural changes of the energy mix at the IBA Biennial Conference of the Section on Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Law (SEERIL).
Monthly Archive for April, 2014
Naturschutzbund Deutschland (Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union – NABU) filed a lawsuit based on the Environmental Damage Prevention and Remediation Act (Umweltschadensgesetz) against the Federal Republic of Germany. NABU alleges harm caused by the wind farm to protected sea birds and porpoises.
Continue reading ‘Environmental Group NABU Files Lawsuit Against Offshore Wind Farm Butendiek’
Following Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt’s announcement in late March to pass an Electromobility Act this year, Handelsblatt and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) provide first information which suggest that certain hybrid cars may also benefit if the new law comes into force.
To give interested parties the opportunity to monitor progress of the German Energiewende (policy shift towards a mainly renewable energy supply) the energy think tank Agora Energiewende provides online electricity information visualizing current data, but also providing information on the past.
Continue reading ‘Energy Think Tank Agora Energiewende Provides Online Electricity Information’
The municipal utility of the city of Karlsruhe (Stadtwerke Karlsruhe) announced a cooperation with EnBW AG, one of the major national utilities, with regard to the testing of smart meters. A field test was planned in the city of Karlsruhe in autumn, Stadtwerke Karlsruhe said. After its evaluation in the second half of 2015, a larger field test shall be conducted.
Consultations for the 2014 version of the gas as well as the electricity onshore and offshore grid development plans have started.
Continue reading ‘Gas and Electricity 2014 Grid Development Plan Consultations’
In a research project for system services called INEES Volkswagen AG (VW) teamed up with green electricity provider Lichtblick, PV inverter manufacturer SMA Solar Technology AG and Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES). 20 VW e-up electric cars delivered to test customers shall not only be powered by electricity, but feed back electricity into the grid due to intelligent charging technology and software. That way they shall form a demand-oriented storage battery of a significant size that is able to balance the fluctuating input of wind and solar power and stablize the grid.
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) has made additional background material on the EEG 2014 revision available on its website.
In 27 preliminary injunction proceedings (Eilrechtsanträgen) brought by five nuclear power plant operators, the Fiscal Court of Hamburg ordered various Main Customs Offices (Hauptzollämter) to preliminarily refund EUR 2.2 billion paid as nuclear fuel rod taxes.
A new report by Working Group III contributing to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows that emissions have risen to unprecedented levels, growing more quickly between 2000 and 2010 than in the three previous decades. Hence reaching the goal of limiting the global mean temperature to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, requires major institutional and technological changes, the report concludes.
