Exiting from nuclear power, entering a new energy system

05/06/2011 - Exiting from nuclear power today is a consensus in Germany. It's less clear, however, how entering a new energy system should look like. What are the costs of phasing out nuclear power, depending on the timeline? Which power plant capacities have to be built using not just renewable energy sources but also additional power generation from fossil fuels? Answers to these questions will be given by a new study of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the Institute for Infrastructure and Resource Management of the Leipzig University. The results are going to be presented on friday, june 10th, in Berlin.
Exiting from nuclear power, entering a new energy system

Germany cannot achieve a new energy system just on its own, argued Ottmar Edenhofer, chief economist of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, recently in the Economist. Big efficiency gains will come only if Europe’s carbon cap includes housing and transport. Ramping up renewables would make more sense if Germany tapped into sunnier and windier parts of Europe, which requires a pan-European electricity grid. “Scaling up can only be done on a European level,” says Edenhofer.

The study, coordinated by Brigitte Knopf (PIK), has been commissioned by the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation. At the presentation, Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the Socialdemocratic Party, will give a political assessment of the results. The chairman of the group works council of Thyssen-Krupp and the chairman of the BUND-Friends of the Earth Germany will participate in the discussion.

 

See here for the invitation

For registration up to june 9th please contact irin.nickel@fes.de

 

Further reading

A study on a change in the global energy system ("Adam", publihed in the Energy Journal, 2010)

A study on a change in the European energy system ("Recipe", 2009)