Nuclear power could take wind out of German RE sails

German Nuclear Power

Germany's ambitious plans for its wind power industry could be under threat after the new coalition government revealed their vision, which includes postponing the closure of the nation's nuclear power plants.

Germany's transport ministry have plans for a total of 2,500 turbines in northern Germany, creating 30,000 jobs, with huge amounts of public and private money already invested into expanding ports, business parks and infrastructure. It is hoped that wind energy will one day generate enough electricity to power 12 million homes, it would take the equivalent of 12 medium-sized nuclear power stations to do the same.

However, the problem is that these projects are also extremely expensive - as much as 10 million euros per turbine - and the only large corporations capable of making the necessary investments are the energy companies that also run nuclear power plants. Now, because it seems likely that the new German government will delay the phase-out of nuclear power stations, scheduled for 2020, the plans for Germany's wind industry will grind to a halt.

Despite the German government making no secret of their ambitious vision for the country's energy, the big companies are in no rush to projects up and running. Proceeding too quickly with offshore wind projects at the same time that new coal-fired plants and nuclear stations are producing electricity will lead to a glut in supply, consequently driving down prices.

There is a distinct lack of the necessary infrastructure in place to transmit the energy that would be produced by alternative sources, therefore energy companies are choosing to pursue the production of conventional energy in order to make more money. As Bärbel Höhn, deputy floor leader of the Green party, puts it, "they're not going to ruin their balance sheets if they don't have to."

The government need to offer greater incentives for investing in domestic German wind power, to stop energy companies competing to enter foreign markets to avoid competing with their own fossil fuel business within Germany. Extending the lifetimes of the nation's nuclear power will only serve to make the situation worse.

"If the nuclear reactor lifetimes are extended there won't be any significant expansion of offshore wind power in the foreseeable future," says Höhn.

This will have repercussions beyond just that of the German energy market, as the economically weak regions in northern coastal Germany will lose out on the thousands of jobs created by the offshore projects.

The environment minister of the state of Baden-Württemberg, Tanja Gönner, wants to force companies to hand over at least 50 percent of the extra profits they will generate from keeping their nuclear plants open. But the fact that nuclear energy companies are being offered longer plant-life in exchange for greater investment in renewable energy, will be of little consolation as long as wind power plans continue to suffer.

As much as the decision to extend the life of German nuclear energy will come at the expense of alternative power sources for the time being, these plans must be viewed in the long-term. Much like plans to use revenue from oil and gas rigs to fund solar projects in Florida, the long-term future of the German wind industry could seriously benefit from present day investments in traditional power, before they are phased-out all together.

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