Germany formally extends the service life of nuclear power industry in the wind power industry

German Chancellor Angela Merkel finally fulfilled his "commitment" during last year's election campaign in a noisy state. On September 6, the German government struck a difficult agreement after several months of intense disputes, officially announcing that Germany’s existing 17 nuclear power stations will be extended by an average of 12 years of service on the basis of the original scheduled time of retiring 2021. Ms. Merkel, who once served as the German Minister of the Environment in the 1990s, called this decision "a German energy supply," but there are plenty of people who do not buy the Premier. The opposition German Social Democratic leader Sigma Gabriel called the announcement September 6 "a dark day for German energy policy." The industry is worried that the long-term survival of nuclear power plants will take away much-needed investment from German wind power and bring a heavy blow to the future development of renewable energy in Germany.

"Nuclear power is a bridge"

On September 5, the German Chancellery held a special meeting on nuclear energy policy. After intense discussions throughout the night, it finally decided the future direction of nuclear power in Germany. On the following day, two officials with completely different views on nuclear power policy, German Environment Minister Norbert Lutgen and Minister of Economy Rainer Bruderel announced to the media that the German government had officially decided to extend the existing 17 nuclear power plant operating years. Among them, 7 nuclear power plants built before 1980 will continue to serve for 8 years, and the remaining 10 newer nuclear power plants will extend their lives for 14 years.

In 2002, the Schroeder government had made a legislative decision to shut down all nuclear power plants in the country by 2021. The fact that it had been nailed a nail was a big controversy last year. In September 2009, after the coalition government formed by the Communist Party and the Freedom Party took office, Merkel announced several times that it would extend the service life of nuclear power plants. This led to the opening of the German nuclear power system.

The Merkel government believes that currently renewable energy technologies are not yet mature, and stable, cheap and carbon-free nuclear energy will be an indispensable transition energy for Germany. At the same meeting on September 5, the German government also proposed a new energy plan: By 2020, renewable energy should account for 35% of total German electricity consumption, reaching 50 in 2030 and 2050 respectively. % and 80%. Merkel said at a press conference that "to achieve this goal of renewable energy development, nuclear power is a bridge."

The economic benefits of retaining nuclear power are obvious. According to a study released by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), for Germany, for every one year increase in the operation of nuclear power plants, the income of related operating companies can increase by 6.4 billion euros. The German government has decided that from 2011 onwards, the German government will send four major nuclear power operators to the country - the Ion Energy Group, the Westphalia Westphalia Power Group, the Wattenfels Power Company and the Baden-Württemberg Tembus Power Company levies nuclear fuel tax. The total annual tax that four companies are required to pay is rated at 2.3 billion euros. It will continue until 2016. The German government will finalize specific details on September 28.

Great controversy never stopped

A recent public opinion survey showed that 56% of Germans made it clear that they would like to shut down the nuclear power plant as scheduled, supporting only 38% of the life extension of nuclear power. In April this year, a nationwide anti-nuclear power march broke out in Germany. Up to 150,000 people participated in the parade. Sources said that anti-nuclearists are preparing to set off a new round of parade in Berlin on September 18. Even at the Nuclear Energy Conference on September 5, there were thousands of mobs gathered outside the gate.

Within the government, the debate over whether to continue using nuclear power is also quite fierce. The German Green Party member and former German Environment Minister Jürgen Tridin accused the government’s decision as “just a gift worth billions of euros to a company like the Evian Group”. The Social Democratic Party leader Sigma Gabriel even stated that if the Socialist Party can win in the 2013 election, the current government’s decision to extend the life of the nuclear power plant “will be overturned.”

Even within the Merkel-led coalition government, it is not a matter of harmony. The German Environment Minister Norbert Lutgen and the Minister of Economy Rainer Brudler are the two extremes. The former is an out-and-out anti-nuclear person, while the latter is Lobbying around the importance of nuclear power to Germany.

But the Germans also seem to understand that it is not realistic to give up nuclear power completely in a short period of time. In another survey conducted by the German independent polling agency Forsa, 81% of Germans believe that Germany can not completely get rid of nuclear power. Five years ago, the same survey showed that only 59% of people think so. In the current structure of electricity consumption in Germany, the proportion of nuclear power is 22.6%. Compared with traditional thermal power plants or natural gas power plants, the cost of nuclear power plants is high, but the maintenance costs are much lower than other types of power plants. The British "Economist" is also sceptical, it is difficult to conclude that if Merkel decided to shut down the nuclear power plant on schedule, it would not be a "fatal" decision.

Wind power industry worried

Germany’s nuclear power operators are mostly public utility companies. These companies also shoulder the task of investing in renewable energy. The German government has repeatedly stressed that wind power is the focus of renewable energy in Germany in the future, and clearly stated that it will invest 75 billion yuan by 2030. Euro and wind power installed capacity reached 25 million kilowatts. However, the life extension of a nuclear power plant may reduce the investment enthusiasm of public utility companies for renewable energy.

Olaf Hommel, an energy researcher at the University of Flensburg in Germany, pointed out that if nuclear service time is extended, utility companies will definitely boycott investment in renewable energy, because more wind power means lower profits from nuclear power generation, while paying large amounts of money each year. Nuclear tax will also diversify investment. Charlie House, a new energy analyst with Bloomberg, also believes that German wind power will be greatly affected. “Let this number of nuclear power plants continue to operate means power prices will stabilize and even decline, which means less investment.” .

Although Merkel stressed that some of the taxes collected by nuclear power operators will be used to invest in renewable energy, there is no specific implementation details. The German Renewable Energy Alliance ** Ditmar Schulz was disappointed with this. “Prolonging the life span of nuclear power plants will obviously bring obstacles to the development of renewable energy. Merkel was obviously convinced by nuclear power supporters that this is no longer the case. What secret?

At present, although the government has already made a decision, it must be passed by the German parliament. Since the current ruling coalition does not occupy a majority seat in the Senate, the Merkel government plans to bypass the Senate on the grounds that the plan only requires the extension of the life of the nuclear power plant and does not overturn the former government legislation. However, according to the “New York Times” report, several German state governments consider this move to be unconstitutional and claim to appeal to the German Supreme Court. To be sure, as long as the German nuclear power plant still exists, the dispute will not stop.