Since the reform of the Renewable Energy Sources Act was adopted in 2014, procurement costs (electricity market price plus EEG surcharge) have gone down for the second year in succession.
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It is time for renewables to compete in a market environment. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy has published a paper outlining how exactly this can work in practice. The paper has met with a strong response, with the ministry receiving more than 160 comments by the beginning of October.
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The energy transition is bringing a wave of new jargon into the public realm. This section provides some background on the most important ones, with this week’s edition focusing on "uniform pricing". That is the name of the new procedure to determine the level of funding granted to ground-mounted photovoltaic installations (or "solar farms").
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The energy transition is driving innovation in Germany. Some 1,600 patents were applied for in Germany in the field of renewable energy in 2014. That is four times the level seen nine years ago: there were 399 patent applications in 2005.
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Nuclear power plant operators bear the costs associated with the nuclear phase-out, i.e. the costs for dismantling power plants and the disposal of nuclear waste.
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The energy transition is bringing a wave of new jargon into the public realm. This section provides some background on the most important ones, with this week’s edition focusing on the 'stress test'. What does a stress test have to do with phasing out nuclear energy?
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There is a great deal of potential to save energy in Germany’s buildings. State Secretary Rainer Baake explained how to tap this potential at the 7th German Heating Conference in Berlin.
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The G20 has a major impact on the attainment of global climate targets. This was stressed by State Secretary Uwe Beckmeyer at the G20 ministerial in Istanbul.
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Transforming our energy system will help create numerous jobs in Germany. By 2050, some 230,000 jobs will be created in the renewables sector alone.
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"Renewable energy is the only way to grow the world's economy whilst protecting our climate."
Dr Hermann Falk, Executive Director of the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE).
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