15 August 2012
Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger has criticized the German support of renewable energies. During an interview with the German “Bild Zeitung” Oettinger demanded a reform of the renewable energy policy in Germany, claiming that due to the royalties for renewables everybody has to pay, the country would have the second highest energy prices in the Europe.
The Energy Commissioner maintains that this would overcharge consumers and put damage on the economy. He demanded to start again with the discussions about a cap of the “EEG apportionment”, the amount each consumer pays more for each kw/h consumed to finance the energy transition in Germany. Otherwise costs for the consumer would get out of hand.
Oettinger also said that further installation of PV and wind power has to go along with grid extension and storage power plants. It wouldn’t be of use to produce significantly more solar and wind power if there would be no transmission lines to take it to the consumers.
