The German Energiewende and its roll-out of renewable energies: An economic perspective

doi:10.1007/s11708-017-0467-5

Front. Energy

2017, Vol. 11

Issue (2) : 126-134 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-017-0467-5

REVIEW ARTICLE

The German Energiewende and its roll-out of renewable energies: An economic perspective

Sebastian KREUZ(

), Felix MÜSGENS

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Energy Systems, Brandenburg University of Technology, 03046 Cottbus, Germany

Download: PDF(280 KB) HTML
Export: BibTeX | EndNote | Reference Manager | ProCite | RefWorks

Abstract

This paper gives a short overview of the German Energiewende, i.e. the transition of a large and mostly thermal electricity system towards electricity generation from renewable energy source. It discusses both, the motivation of the transitions as future goals and current status. Furthermore, it gives an in-depth view into the changes in economic costs for society as well as electricity price effects, especially for average private households and industrial consumers. It also discusses the benefits of the promotion of renewable energies in Germany.

Keywords electricity system renewable energy cost-benefit analysis

Corresponding Author(s): Sebastian KREUZ

Just Accepted Date: 07 April 2017 Online First Date: 10 May 2017 Issue Date: 01 June 2017

Cite this article:

Sebastian KREUZ,Felix MÜSGENS. The German Energiewende and its roll-out of renewable energies: An economic perspective[J]. Front. Energy, 2017, 11(2): 126-134.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/EN/10.1007/s11708-017-0467-5
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/EN/Y2017/V11/I2/126

Tab.1 Selected goals of the German government in the field of energy policies [4–7]

Fig.1 Installed capacity of renewable energy in Germany since 1990 [5]

Fig.2 Annual renewable energy support costs (RESC) of subsidized renewable energy sources in Germany [10]

Fig.3 Feed-in tariff development for small-scale photovoltaic systems and onshore wind [17]

Fig.4 Share of electricity consumption (first circle) and share of RESC burden (€ 21.8 billion) (second circle) paid by different consumer groups in 2015 [18,19]

Fig.5 Electricity prices for an average German private household for the years 1998 to 2015 [19] (Green sections represent the direct costs of the energy transition: renewable surcharge, CHP surcharge, offshore liability levy; black sections represent the costs of electricity generation, grid surcharge, wholesale and retail costs; grey sections represent all other costs: e.g., further surcharges and taxes.)

Fig.6 Electricity prices for an average industrial consumer in Germany for the years 1998 and 2015 [19] (Green sections represent direct costs of the energy transition: renewable surcharge, CHP surcharge, offshore liability levy; black sections represent the cost of electricity generation, grid surcharge, wholesale and retail cost; grey sections represent all other costs: e.g., further surcharges and taxes.)

1	IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency). Data and statistics of capacity and generation. 2016
2	Renewable Energy Sources Act (Renewable Energy Sources Act—RES Act 2014). 2014
3	F Joas, M Pahle, C Flachsland, A Joas. Which goals are driving the Energiewende? Making sense of the German Energy Transformation. Energy Policy, 2016, 95: 42–51 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2016.04.003
4	Federal Government. German Federal Government’s National Electromobility Development Plan. 2009
5	Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (FMEE). Time Series about the Development of Renewable Energies in Germany (in Germany). 2016
6	Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (FMEE). The Energy of the Future–5th Monitoring Report of the Energy Transition (long version, in German). 2016
7	Federal Office for Motor Traffic. Annual count of the stock of vehicles. 2016
8	Federal Government. Directory sustainability–outcome and perspectives. 2005
9	Federal Government. Progress report 2008 on the national strategy for sustainable development—for a sustainable German.2008
10	Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (FMEE). Compensations, differential costs and EEG-surcharge 2000 until 2017 (in Germany). 2016
11	P L Joskow. Comparing the costs of intermittent and dispatchable electricity generating technologies. American Economic Review, 2010, 101(3):238–241
12	Netztransparenz 2016. Overview for market values and reference market values. 2016
13	C Kost, J N Mayer, J Thomsen, N Hartmann, C Senkpiel, S Philipps, S Nold, S Lude, N Saad, T Schlegl. Levelized cost of electricity renewable energy technologies. 2013
14	I S E Fraunhofer. Current and future cost of photovoltaics: long-term scenarios for market development, system prices and LCOE of utility-scale PV systems. 2015
15	M Dillig, M Jung, J Karl. The impact of renewables on electricity prices in Germany—an estimation based on historic spot prices in the years 2011–2013. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2016, 57: 7–15 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.12.003
16	Federal Network Agency. Approval of scenarios for the electricity grid extension plans 2017–2030 (in Germany). 2016
17	TSOs (Transmission System Operators). 50 Hertz Transmission GmbH, Amprion GmbH, Transnet BW GmbH, TenneT TSO GmbH. 2016
18	BDEW. (Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industry). Net electricity consumption of different customer groups (in Germany). 2016
19	BDEW. (Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industry). BDEW electricity price analysis. 2016
20	Eurostat. Energy price statistics, 2016
21	S Borenstein. The private and public economics of renewable electricity generation. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2012, 26(1): 67–92 https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.26.1.67
22	R Schmalensee. Evaluating policies to increase electricity generation from renewable energy. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 2012, 6(1): 45–64 https://doi.org/10.1093/reep/rer020
23	Öko-Institut. Saved costs for energy imports in 2015 and innovation effects through the usage of renewable energies (in Germany). 2016
24	J Blazejczak, F G Braun, D Edler, W P Schill. Economic effects of renewable energy expansion: a model-based analysis for Germany. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2014, 40: 1070–1080 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.07.134
25	U Lehr, P Ulrich, C Lutz, I Thobe, D Edler, M O’Sullivan, S Simon, T Naegler, U Pfenning, F Peter, F Sakowski, P Bickel. Employment by renewable energies in Germany: development and operation, today and tomorrow (in Germany). Study for the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy,2015
26	C Lutz, A Großmann, U Lehr, D Lindenberger, A Knaut, R Malischek, S Paulus, C Tode, J Wagner, A Kemmler, A Ley, A Piégsa, M Schlesinger, S Straßburg, S Koziel. Macroeconomic effects of the energy transition (in Germany). Study fort the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy,2014.
27	M Frondel, N Ritter, C M Schmidt, C Vance. Economic impacts from the promotion of renewable energy technologies: the German experience. Energy Policy, 2010, 38(8): 4048–4056 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2010.03.029

[1]	Meng SONG, Wei SUN. Applications of thermostatically controlled loads for demand response with the proliferation of variable renewable energy[J]. Front. Energy, 2022, 16(1): 64-73.
[2]	Mujahid TABASSUM, Manas K. HALDAR, Duaa Fatima S. KHAN. Implementation and performance evaluation of advance metering infrastructure for Borneo-Wide Power Grid[J]. Front. Energy, 2020, 14(1): 192-211.
[3]	Hamid BAHRAMPOUR, Amir Khosro BEHESHTI MARNANI, Mohammad Bagher ASKARI, Mohammad Reza BAHRAMPOUR. Evaluation of renewable energies production potential in the Middle East: confronting the world’s energy crisis[J]. Front. Energy, 2020, 14(1): 42-56.
[4]	Weiliang WANG, Zheng LI, Junfu LYU, Hai ZHANG, Guangxi YUE, Weidou NI. An overview of the development history and technical progress of China’s coal-fired power industry[J]. Front. Energy, 2019, 13(3): 417-426.
[5]	Maurizio FACCIO, Mauro GAMBERI, Marco BORTOLINI, Mojtaba NEDAEI. State-of-art review of the optimization methods to design the configuration of hybrid renewable energy systems (HRESs)[J]. Front. Energy, 2018, 12(4): 591-622.
[6]	Xiaohe YAN, Xin ZHANG, Chenghong GU, Furong LI. Power to gas: addressing renewable curtailment by converting to hydrogen[J]. Front. Energy, 2018, 12(4): 560-568.
[7]	Xiaojing LV, Yu WENG, Xiaoyi DING, Shilie WENG, Yiwu WENG. Technological development of multi-energy complementary system based on solar PVs and MGT[J]. Front. Energy, 2018, 12(4): 509-517.
[8]	S. Surender REDDY, Vuddanti SANDEEP, Chan-Mook JUNG. Review of stochastic optimization methods for smart grid[J]. Front. Energy, 2017, 11(2): 197-209.
[9]	Sławomir DYKAS, Artur SZYMAŃSKI, Xiaoshu CAI. Real prospects for the development of power technologies based on renewable energy sources in Poland[J]. Front. Energy, 2017, 11(2): 168-174.
[10]	Amir AHADI,Hosein HAYATI,Seyed Mohsen MIRYOUSEFI AVAL. Reliability evaluation of future photovoltaic systems with smart operation strategy[J]. Front. Energy, 2016, 10(2): 125-135.
[11]	Eric MARTINOT. Renewable power for China: Past, present, and future[J]. Front. Energy, 2010, 4(3): 287-294.
[12]	Qiong CAI, Nigel P. BRANDON, Claire S. ADJIMAN, . Modelling the dynamic response of a solid oxide steam electrolyser to transient inputs during renewable hydrogen production[J]. Front. Energy, 2010, 4(2): 211-222.

Viewed

Full text

Abstract

Cited

Shared

Discussed