German Energy Congress

The energy turnaround in Germany is receiving a great deal of international attention. The country’s move away from nuclear power and rapid transition to renewable energy sources could serve as a model for other industrialized nations – providing the transition is successful. The large-scale “German Energy Congress” intends to take stock and assess what still needs to done in the continuing efforts to transform the country’s energy system.

“The most constant characteristic of the German energy industry at present is change”, writes the congress organizer. Ever since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan prompted the German government to decide that eight of the 17 nuclear power stations still in operation should be immediately shut down and that the remaining plants should be decommissioned step by step by 2022, there has indeed been a shift within the industry. The large-scale energy companies are losing market shares while the decentralized supply of power from solar and wind energy is growing rapidly.

What form should a market take that better combines renewable energy with the fossil fuel sources we still cannot do without? What changes need to be made to the Renewable Energy Act? How can politicians also drive forward alternatives in other sectors that have not yet made as much progress – for instance when it comes to generating heat, and to issues of transport? The congress in Munich will attempt to answer these questions.

The congress boasts an impressive line-up: to open the event, Federal Environment Minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) will speak on “The Energy Turnaround – What Next?” Other panel participants include Federal Network Agency president Jochen Homann, the European Commission’s director-general for energy Philip Lowe, and Hildegard Müller, head of the German Association of Energy and Water Industries.

German Energy Congress on 10 and 11 September in Munich

www.bmu.de

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