Brussels, 30/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - According to Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger, Germany's decision to end its use of nuclear energy by 2022 will mean that greater coordination is required at European level if excessive electricity price volatility is to be avoided and also to ensure the stability of power grids.
Germany will have to coordinate its ending of the use of nuclear power with its European partners, Oettinger stated at a press conference on energy in Berlin on Thursday 30 June. Several EU member states, and in particular France, have been critical of the decision taken by the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, without consulting the other capitals, to move away from atomic energy with the closure of 17 power stations by 2022 - eight have already been closed and nine others will be phased out from 2015. In addition to the risk of greater volatility in electricity prices flagged up by the various member states, Oettinger highlighted the threat to the stability of the grids. He called for greater coordination at European level in the updating and extension of grid infrastructure needed to ensure interconnections and, consequently, increase energy security in Europe. “The new power grid will have a pan-European dimension and the expansion of renewable energies will be driver of this development. We need to coordinate the grid expansion at European level”, he said.
He also suggested a levy of one cent per kilowatt hour on electricity prices in Germany to finance the extension of the country's grids and so encourage rapid integration into the grid of energy from renewable sources. “The only further (politically motivated) increase in power prices should be for the expansion of networks”, he suggested, aware that taxes and levies already account for 47% of electricity prices in Germany. The commissioner added that funding grid modernisation and extension through this levy made more sense economically than subsidies to solar energy, which produces only a small fraction of the country's electricity, despite further photovoltaic installations being put in place over recent years. (E.H./transl.rt)