As of: January 24, 2024, 7:38 p.m
By: Amy Walker
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Robert Habeck has been fine-tuning two central strategies for the energy transition for a long time: the power plant strategy and the carbon management strategy.
But that requires a lot of money.
Berlin – For months, the German economy has been waiting for two very important plans from the Ministry of Economics that are intended to set the course for the energy transition.
On the one hand, there is the power plant strategy, which is intended to secure the country's energy supply in the long term.
On the other hand, the carbon management strategy, which is intended to clear the way for CO₂ storage in this country.
Both had to be put on hold because of the budget ruling in November.
But now Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) wants to get back on track.
In an interview with
Handelsblatt
as part of the Handelsblatt Energy Summit, Habeck promised that a solution would be found “quickly”.
But this requires money again, which the finance minister would have to release.
Habeck's power plant strategy is intended to enable coal to be phased out
The traffic light coalition's power plant strategy has been announced for a long time and is part of the plan to phase out coal earlier.
Accordingly, coal should be replaced sooner with new gas power plants that would be gradually converted to more climate-friendly hydrogen.
So they want to invest massively in the expansion of these power plants in order to phase out coal earlier than planned.
The coal phase-out is planned by law by 2038.
The new gas power plants are intended to secure the energy supply in Germany in times of so-called “dark lulls”.
So: If there is no wind and the sun is not shining, gas (and later hydrogen) would be the alternative.
So much for the plan, which was once again based on the fact that there would be much more money in the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) than has actually been available since the court ruling in Karlsruhe.
In order for energy suppliers to invest the necessary money in building new power plants, they have to be sure that it will be profitable.
The federal government should step in with subsidies to make this more attractive.
In the
Handelsblatt
interview, Habeck says specifically: “My idea would be to subsidize part of the investment costs and part of the operating costs so that the power plants run a certain number of hours a year in order to gain experience.”
Habeck evades the question about the debt brake
So once again it's about billions that Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) would have to release here.
When asked whether he would now again advocate suspending the debt brake, Habeck said evasively: “What does the debt brake mean?
We need an honest debate about how we can move this country forward." And he shoots against politicians who only ever make decisions that would save them from one election to the next - but would not significantly change the country.
“But if we only elect decision-makers for whom their own popularity is the most important thing, but not what will happen to the country in the next ten years, then I'm no longer in the mood,” said the Economics Minister.
Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Change (Greens), speaks on the phone shortly before the meeting of the Budget Committee of the German Bundestag in Berlin © IMAGO/Political-Moments
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For weeks and months, leading business representatives have been saying that the framework conditions for the construction of new power plants must finally be in place if the energy transition is to really make progress.
The head of the energy company Uniper, Michael Lewis, recently said: “Without a firm framework, no one in Germany will invest in new gas power plants,” he told the Düsseldorf Business Journalists Association (WPV) in mid-January.
And Industry President Siegfried Russwurm criticized in December: “It is extremely annoying that we could find ourselves in the situation of having to continue operating coal-fired power plants for longer because there are no sufficient other reserve capacities.”
CCS in Germany: Habeck wants to store CO₂ under the sea
Other sectors are also postponing important investments in climate-neutral solutions because they lack the political answers.
While energy suppliers wait for the power plant strategy, hopes are elsewhere for the carbon management strategy.
Specifically, this is about the possibilities of instead capturing CO₂ that cannot be avoided (e.g. in cement production or waste incineration) and storing it underground.
This process is called Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).
In the
Handelsblatt
interview, Habeck says: “A lot is happening politically at the moment.
You may have noticed that my party said in November that we think it is right to do CCS.
That environmental groups that weren't known for finding this right also support it.
And that’s right.” He would like to store CO₂ under the seabed, including on German territory, which is currently still prohibited.
“It’s better to have CO₂ in the ground than in the atmosphere,” says Habeck.
But it will also cost a lot of money to implement these technologies in Germany - money that Finance Minister Lindner does not have.
Just a week ago, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Lindner reiterated his position on compliance with the debt brake.
“I can't think of any [exception] at the moment.
At the moment I don’t see anything that would justify that.”
Lindner can plan new debt of up to 39.028 billion euros for the 2024 federal budget and, as things stand, can thus mathematically comply with the debt brake in the Basic Law for the first time since 2019.
With material from Reuters