By P Gosselin

By KlimaNachrichten

The German parliamentary election has been decided, now it’s all about the possible coalition plans.

It seems certain that the link between the economy and the climate will be removed.

It had been introduced especially for Robert Habeck (Greens) and, until recently, was a haven for friends and buddies of the Green politician. Will the numerous NGOs, some of which had family ties to Habeck’s ministry, be able to count on lavish donations from the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the future?

The Münchener Merkur names some possible constellations in terms of the next government.

Friedrich Merz plans to fill the key economic and domestic affairs ministries in particular with his confidants. Names such as Jens Spahn, Carsten Linnemann and Thorsten Frei have been mentioned in this context. The CSU is also making demands: CSU party chairman Markus Söder has already announced that Alexander Dobrindt should take over a key ministry. The interior, finance or defense ministries could be considered, although these posts could possibly also be claimed by a coalition partner. In addition, the CSU is also reaching for the Ministry of Agriculture, which Söder wants the current Bavarian Farmers’ Association President Günther Felßner to take over.”

Prof. Dr. Manuel Frondel from Ruhr University takes a rather critical view of the possible new government on the subject of energy in the Berliner Zeitung. He even accuses Friedrich Merz of being naive.

Experience shows that the construction of gas-fired power plants takes at least five years. “As quickly as possible” can therefore mean many years; there can be no question of ‘going online immediately’. In addition, there are currently no incentives for investors to build new gas-fired power plants, as these power plants, which are intended to bridge dark doldrums, will not be used much due to the expansion of renewable energies and will therefore not be able to recoup their investment costs through market revenues. For this reason, a power plant strategy was developed last year that envisaged subsidizing the construction of ten gigawatts (GW) of hydrogen-capable natural gas power plants with 20 billion euros from the state. This would finance the construction of around 20 power plants, not 50 as proposed by Friedrich Merz. Merz’s proposal would therefore be much more expensive.”

Frondel also sees the expansion of solar energy critically.

According to the medium-term forecast of the Energy Economics Institute (EWI) at the University of Cologne, rooftop photovoltaic systems alone, which account for around two thirds of the 100 GW solar power, will cost taxpayers around ten billion euros a year – and this for another twenty years, as the remuneration for solar power is guaranteed at the same level for twenty years under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). These ten billion euros – per year, mind you! – are therefore not available for other urgently needed measures, such as the renovation of schools, the expansion of transport infrastructure or digitization, let alone for research and development, not least for energy generation and storage technologies.”

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