German Chancellor Scholz: The cost of Germany's energy transition is the highest in the world
German Chancellor Scholz recently pointed out at a business reception in eastern Germany that phasing out nuclear power is a serious strategic mistake.
German Chancellor Scholz recently said that the high energy costs in Germany today should be attributed to former Chancellor Merkel and the subsequent (Social Democratic Party, Green Party, Free Democratic Party) coalition government.
He said, "If you really intended to do this (exit nuclear energy), you should have at least allowed the last few nuclear power plants in Germany to continue operating three years ago, so that at least the power generation capacity at that time could have been maintained."
In March 2011, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan triggered a nuclear leak at the Fukushima power plant, an event that had an impact on Germany even greater than in Japan itself. As a senior physicist, then-Chancellor Merkel unexpectedly changed her long-standing position on nuclear energy policy. Merkel suddenly announced that the era of nuclear energy in Germany would end by the end of 2022. On July 30, 2011, the German Bundestag voted to approve this resolution.
On April 15, 2023, during the period of the Social Democratic Party, Green Party, and Free Democratic Party coalition government, the last three nuclear power plants in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, and Lower Saxony were officially taken off the grid.
Current Chancellor Scholz said he hopes to "eventually restore a reasonable market price for energy production without long-term subsidies from the federal budget for energy prices. In the long run, we cannot continue to provide subsidies."
He said, "We are currently carrying out the energy transition in the most expensive way in the world. I don't know which other country has made the energy transition as difficult and expensive as Germany. We set ourselves a goal, and now we have to correct it, but we don't have enough power generation capacity."
Scholz said that in order to compensate for this loss, the government plans to promote the construction of new gas power plants and has already reached an agreement with Brussels. These gas power plants will serve as backup power sources to meet electricity demand when renewable energy generation is insufficient, there is not enough sunlight, or there is no wind.
The Berlin government plans to provide billions of euros in subsidies for the construction of new gas power plants. However, so far, companies have been hesitant to invest.
Source: DW
Original: toutiao.com/article/1854479590421580/
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