EU: Commission approves german 27.5 Bn energy-compensation scheme

 The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, a German scheme to partially compensate energy-intensive companies for higher electricity prices resulting from indirect emission costs under the EU Emission Trading System (‘ETS').

Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “This €27.5 billion scheme will allow Germany to reduce the impact of indirect emission costs on its energy-intensive industries and hence the risk that these companies relocate their production to countries outside the EU with less ambitious climate policies. At the same time, the measure will facilitate a cost-effective decarbonisation of the German economy in line with the Green Deal objectives, while limiting possible distortions of competition.”

The German measure

The scheme notified by Germany, with a total estimated budget of €27.5 billion, will cover part of the higher electricity prices arising from the impact of carbon prices on electricity generation costs (so-called ‘indirect emission costs') incurred between 2021 and 2030. The support measure is aimed at reducing the risk of ‘carbon leakage', where companies relocate their production to countries outside the EU with less ambitious climate policies, resulting increased greenhouse gas emissions globally.

The measure will benefit companies active in sectors at risk of carbon leakage listed in Annex I to the Guidelines on certain State aid measures in the context of the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme post-2021 (‘ETS State aid Guidelines'). Those sectors face significant electricity costs and are particularly exposed to international competition.

The compensation will be granted to eligible companies through a partial refund of the indirect emission costs incurred in the previous year, with the final payment to be made in 2031. The maximum aid amount will be generally equal to 75 % of the indirect emission costs incurred. However, in some instances, the maximum aid amount can be higher to limit the remaining indirect emission costs incurred to 1.5 % of the company's gross value added. The aid amount is calculated based on electricity consumption efficiency benchmarks, which ensure that the beneficiaries are encouraged to save energy.

You can read the rest of the piece under the below link:

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_4925

Germany: politicians shun fracking-option to mitigate gas import problems

As Germany is severley affected by the cut-back of russian piped gas and also in the light of ethical consideration the fracking-option, banned in 2017, is again put forward. However politicians and lawmakars are reluctant: WELT:

Germany is stuck in the natural gas crisis and is dependent on Russian supplies, which are being reduced. The focus is on Germany's own resources: Huge amounts of natural gas lie beneath Germany, which geologists say could supply the country for decades.

The energy reserves could be tapped by fracking. But the previous federal government banned the drilling technology in 2017, even though scientific reports had also shown fracking to be practicable in Germany.

The ban is not set in stone, according to the Water Resources Act it should be reconsidered: The German Bundestag was obliged to review the appropriateness of the fracking ban as early as 2021 - "on the basis of the current state of science and technology", as the law states . However: That did not happen – despite the gas crisis.

When asked by WELT, the Bundestag pointed out that the “Fracking Expert Commission” only submitted its report from 2021 at the end of June, on the basis of which advice should be given. The factions of the parties represented in the Bundestag would now decide when the parliamentary deliberations would take place.

Natural Gas: Germany considers LNG imports from Senegal

 With gas supply from russia becoming more precarious and ethically problematic, Germany is scouting around for new sources of supply. On his jorney through several african countries, germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz has explored options of gas exportations of gas from Senegal zu Germany. Climate advocates however find fault with this, WELT:

Senegal has big plans: The West African country wants to use the newly created gap in the gas supply and supply industrialized countries like Germany with liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the future.

According to estimates by the energy company BP, more than 425 billion cubic meters of natural gas are waiting to be extracted off the coast of Senegal and Mauritania. The local enthusiasm is great: “Experts consider the estimated gas resources in Senegal to be world-class. Senegal is on the way to becoming a major gas exporter,” says the Senegalese newspaper Le Quotidien.

Although the country has large gas reserves, it was only the Ukraine war and the move away from Russian gas that really revived hopes of a boom. "The war changed everything," quoted the Washington Post as Mamadou Fall Kane, deputy chief of Senegal's natural resources agency. "Now Europe is knocking on our door."

Because after Africa was asked for years by the European Union, for example, to rely on renewable energies, the energy crisis is now also focusing on fossil fuels again in industrialized countries that want to free themselves from dependence on Russia.

The federal government is also positioning itself: during his trip to Africa in May, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) campaigned in Senegal for closer cooperation on the expansion of the gas infrastructure. It makes sense to "follow closely" such cooperation, this is a "common concern," Scholz said after talks with Senegalese President Macky Sall in Dakar. "We also want to do this with regard to the LNG issue and gas production here in Senegal."

At first glance, that sounds like a win-win situation: African gas can put Germany's energy supply on a broader footing. In return, Senegal could benefit if liquid gas terminals are built with the technical know-how from Germany.

In reality, however, the project is more complicated.

LNG: Germany negotiates with Canada for LNG-shipments

 Source WELT:

Saint John on Canada's rough east coast offers many photo opportunities: a lighthouse, a former fort, a marketplace with a fountain. It is the oldest city in the country, with almost two million tourists visiting each year, many on cruise ships.

What is hardly known, however, is that Saint John is also the only Canadian port with a terminal for liquid gas - and therefore probably a new hope for Germany recently.

On the fringes of the G-7 summit in Elmau, Bavaria, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) spoke to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and advocated an expansion of energy trading, according to the Bloomberg news agency. Specifically, Scholz wants to import more liquid gas from Canada to replace Russian gas. It is apparently another attempt to free Germany from Vladimir Putin's grip.

The industry speaks of “Liquified Natural Gas”, or LNG for short. These three letters have been at the center of world politics since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis. It's about the question of where millions of Europeans should get the raw material with which they heat and operate many of their power plants.

Because Russia, the most important gas supplier up to now, became an outlaw after attacking its neighbor. An unpredictable aggressor who cannot be trusted.

Russia accepts payment for gas supply only in rubles

 WELT:

In the future, customers in Germany and other EU countries will have to pay in rubles for gas deliveries from Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday instructed the government to stop accepting payments in dollars or euros. Deliveries would continue to be fully guaranteed, the Kremlin chief assured in a government video conference that was broadcast on state television.

The "unfriendly states" blacklisted by Russia are affected. This includes Germany and all other EU countries, but also the USA, Canada and Great Britain.

The announcement promptly strengthened the Russian currency, which is under massive pressure. The move could therefore also aim to support the ruble exchange rate. Gas companies would first have to buy rubles on the foreign exchange market.

The central bank and the Russian government now have a week to determine the modalities for switching from foreign exchange to ruble payments, Putin said. The West itself has devalued its currencies by freezing Russian assets abroad.

"Escalation of the Economic War"

"This is an escalation of the economic war," Jens Südekum, a member of the scientific advisory board of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, told the Reuters news agency. "Not many expected this broadside."

For Südekum, this represents a clear breach of contract. "There are long-term contracts for gas supplies that are denominated in dollars," said the professor at the Institute for Competition Economics at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf. "If Putin now declares that he only accepts rubles, he is breaking these contracts." The West will now have to react in some way. "An embargo on energy imports from Russia has now become more likely."

If the West followed Russia's request, it would have to circumvent its own sanctions over the war against Ukraine and take rubles from the Russian central bank. "But it was actually sanctioned," said Südekum. "That's why you can't actually do that."

As a reaction to the sanctions imposed by the West, the Russian government had already decided at the beginning of the month that its own financial obligations to "unfriendly states" would only be settled in rubles. These include Ukraine, Switzerland and Japan.

LNG: Germany preparing for LNG imports

 With Russia as designated gas provider falling out due to the russian invasion of Ukraine and president Putin's unpredictable behaviour, Germany is carrying out a change in gas import, more precisely turning to US LNG (WELT):

On the high seas, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, the "Minerva Chios" suddenly changed course. The ship came from the USA and was almost there, but then it turned 180 degrees, turning from south-east to north-west. The captain had been assigned a new port. He should no longer head for Asia, as originally planned, but for Rotterdam. Apparently someone in Europe was offering more money for their cargo.

The "Minerva Chios" was loaded with liquid gas or "Liquefied Natural Gas", as it is called in the industry, LNG for short. These three letters have been at the center of world politics since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis. It's about the question of where millions of Europeans should get the raw material with which they heat and operate many of their power plants.

Because Russia, the most important gas supplier for Germany and the entire continent, has made itself an outsider by attacking Ukraine. An unpredictable aggressor who can no longer be trusted. Germany must look for alternatives to Russian natural gas, says Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens), otherwise you will become "a pawn".

Nord Stream 2: german chancellor stops pipeline project in reaction of russian invasion into Ukraine

 WELT:

As a reaction to the Russian actions towards Ukraine, the federal government is stopping the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD ) on Tuesday in Berlin. "And without this certification, Nord Stream 2 cannot go into operation."

Scholz condemned President Vladimir Putin's decision to recognize the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent states as a serious breach of international law. With his actions in eastern Ukraine, Putin is not only breaking the Minsk Agreement, but also the UN Charter, which provides for the preservation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states.

Germany: high energy prices strain steel industry

 German steel producers complain about high energy prices and the planned new mechanisms of emission trading that will have a negative impact on competitiveness (WELT):

The steel industry in Germany is struggling with high energy costs. "In the last six months alone, our expenditure on electricity and gas has increased by a three-digit million amount," reports Bernhard Osburg, CEO of Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe.

And his company has the advantage of only having to buy a small amount of energy. "We currently produce two thirds of the electricity ourselves," reports Osburg at the "Handelsblatt annual conference on the future of steel". The cost explosion arises only with the remaining third.

For the industry as a whole, the Steel Industry Association puts the additional costs at around 1.7 billion euros at the current high price level for electricity and gas. "This endangers the international competitiveness of electric steel production, which will also play a decisive role in the climate goals of the federal government," warns Association President Hans Jürgen Kerkhoff. Especially since Germany already has one of the highest electricity prices in an international comparison.

But Kerkhoff does not just worry about the here and now. "The high energy prices are also jeopardizing the start of the planned transformation of the steel industry," says the industry representative. Because that requires a lot of energy.

So far, the industry has been one of the biggest climate sinners in Germany. Almost 60 million tons of CO₂ are emitted every year in steel production, which alone corresponds to a third of industrial emissions in Germany. In order to drastically reduce this number and to become almost climate-neutral in the future, manufacturers are planning new production processes.

“Green steel” is the corresponding catchphrase. This means that production is no longer carried out in the classic blast furnace, but in direct reduction plants. In contrast to the usual blast furnace route, so-called reduction gases, which extract the oxygen from the iron ore, are not produced with coking coal, but in the first step with natural gas and then with hydrogen in the future, produced with electricity from renewable energy. "This enables a CO2 reduction of 95 to 97 percent," says the think tank Agora Energiewende, which specializes in the electricity sector.

All major steel producers in Germany have had corresponding pilot plants for a long time. However, the actual conversion will cost a lot of money, estimates in the industry range from 20 to 30 billion euros. And investing in the systems is not enough.

At the same time, the energy requirement increases many times over. "Because the transformation of the steel industry is based on electrification, electrolytically generated hydrogen and natural gas as a low-CO₂ transitional raw material," explains expert Kerkhoff. Due to the high energy prices, there is now a risk of a drastic increase in costs. Because by 2030 alone, the demand for natural gas will increase by two thirds and the demand for green electricity will even triple.

The example of Thyssenkrupp shows how gigantic the quantities are in the final stage. The German market leader currently needs around 4.5 terawatt hours of energy for its plant at the Duisburg site – incidentally the largest steel plant in Europe. "If we produce in a climate-neutral manner, this need will increase tenfold," announces Steel Division boss Osburg. For comparison: According to the company, the 45 terawatt hours required then correspond to 4.5 times the electricity requirements of the city of Hamburg.

That is a gigantic amount. And unlike today, that would have to be bought in completely. "But we will not be able to do this alone, either as a company or as an industry as a whole," says Osburg. Rather, compensation is needed via the climate protection agreements planned by Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens).

Steel President Kerkhoff is also calling for state aid. "Politicians must not just look on, but should develop solutions in dialogue with industry on how gas and electricity prices can be kept at a competitive level for industry," demands the industry representative. Especially since the energy cost problem is by no means the only source of danger for the industry.

Burdens from European emissions trading. The EU is currently discussing a far-reaching revision of this mechanism. And the proposals currently being discussed provide for the gradual abolition of the free allocation of CO₂ certificates. According to the Steel Industry Association, there is a risk of additional costs of 16 billion euros per year - in addition to the investments in systems and the additional costs for energy.

“But that would take away the economic power and investment leeway that companies need for the transformation,” warns association leader Kerkhoff. The companies themselves complain about that. "It takes our breath away," says Thyssenkrupp manager Osburg. "Merging off free allocations and investing in the future at the same time - that can't work."

Geert van Poelvoorde also finds clear words. "You have to ask yourself whether the steel industry still has a future in Europe," says the European boss of ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel manufacturer. “More pressure will not accelerate the transformation. On the contrary: the steel industry is being deprived of the means to switch production to green.”

Especially in connection with the high energy prices. Van Poelvoorde expects the costs for electricity and gas to normalize step by step. However, the price will not drop to previous levels. And even that has an impact. His company has a plant in Hamburg that will initially produce climate-friendly steel with natural gas and later with green hydrogen. “At the moment, however, we cannot operate this plant competitively. With the current electricity prices, it would stand still.”

However, a constant start-stop mode will not work. And what that can ultimately mean is shown by another example from the ArcelorMittal Group. "We just had to close a plant in Poland, also because the electricity costs are too high," reports van Poelvoorde.

The manager sees Europe as a steel location at a crossroads. "2022 will decide how big or small the European steel industry will still be." The EU must decide whether to support the transformation and thus the decarbonization of the steel industry with subsidies or not.

In any case, the previous plans in Brussels were not sufficient to ensure the future viability of the industry. "There are enough goals, what we need now are decisions to be able to implement projects so that green steel can be produced," van Poelvoorde very clearly demands support.

After all, in the case of ArcelorMittal, a complete conversion to direct reduction plants involves investments in the order of five to six billion euros. "In the current environment, however, a decision on these investments is impossible."

This is also emphasized by the steel trade association. "The political framework for investments worth billions must be created now," says Association President Kerkhoff. “These large-scale industrial investments require a reliable financing basis across legislative periods.

This is not about long-term funding, but about appropriate support in the ramp-up phase and protection against the enormous risks.” And that as quickly as possible. "Every month that goes by costs competitiveness," says Thyssenkrupp man Osburg. The long-established company wants to commission the first plant that can also produce climate-neutrally using hydrogen in 2025.

"It's a facility that's 150 meters high and costs a little over a billion euros. They don't even build them in 14 days. If we don't step on the gas now, that won't happen.” For such a decision, however, the supervisory board needs well-founded data and acceptable framework conditions.

Politicians are under pressure. Because steel is one of the most important materials and also plays a key role in the German industrial mix, after all, car and mechanical engineering are among the core sectors in this country. And their business is closely linked to steel. According to a study by Prognos commissioned by the Steel Industry Association, a drop of 40 percent in steel production in Germany means the loss of 200,000 jobs and 114 billion euros in added value.

Netherlands: gas orders from Germany lead to discontent in dutch population

 Residents of the Groningen gas field suffer from earthquakes as a consequence of the year-long gas production. Germany however has ordered a higher amount of gas from the field that was bound to be shut down in 2026. The dutch side blame Germany to shift their problems to the Netherlands, hinting at the stagnating certification process of contentious Nord Stream 2 pipeline (WELT):

When René Paas, the Dutch King's commissioner for the province of Groningen, travels to the seat of government in The Hague, every conversation begins with the question: What's the situation with the gas field? That's how he tells WELT on the phone. "Groningen has been associated with the gas production there and the associated problems for years."

Because of gas production, since the 1990s there have been an increasing number of smaller earthquakes that cause damage to residential buildings. In response to the loud protests of the Groningen population, the Dutch cabinet finally decided to initially reduce the subsidy significantly and then stop it in mid-2022. Gas production in Groningen will only continue until 2026 as an emergency solution for cold winters.

A project that Germany is now thwarting. As the “Spiegel” reported, German suppliers have probably ordered 1.1 billion cubic meters more gas for the 2021/22 financial year than planned. In addition, the commissioning of a nitrogen factory, which is to process imported gas for Dutch households in the future, has been delayed.

LNG: The US are a new player in the european gas game

 In view of the tensions between Russia and Ukraine and the menace of a natural gas cut off from Russia and the increased will of several european countries to turn away from russian gas, us-american companies take the baton as a supplier of LNG to Europe, writes french newspaper Le Monde:

It was December 2021 when it appeared that Russia was amassing its troops on the doorstep of Ukraine. Suddenly, the Minerva Chios, an LNG carrier from Louisiana, turned around, while it was in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Direction Europe, via the Suez Canal, with its cargo of American liquefied natural gas (LNG). It was the same for the Maran Gas Vergina, coming from Delaware, which was approaching the Strait of Malacca: it turned around to unload in Turkey. The Marvel Crane, which was going to use the Panama Canal for Asia, headed for Spain. The Old Continent, so dependent on Russian gas, suddenly became attractive and shipowners diverted their cargoes to the best buyers.

Germany: is the reactor shutdown a terrible and irreversible mistake?

 A quite interesting insight in the last day of Grohnde Nuclear Power Plant by scientist Anna Veronika Wendland and her criticism of german climate lobby in Salonkolumnisten:

On December 31st, three German nuclear power plants will be forced to shut down, although it is already recognized that the nuclear phase-out was a mistake. Why was it still not possible to save the systems? An insight into what is happening on site - and a search for the causes and the responsible actors.

The Grohnde nuclear power plant goes offline on New Year's Eve. I researched in this nuclear power plant for six years as a long-term observer and wrote parts of my habilitation thesis. And also a number of pieces for the salon columnists. Now I am accompanying the last week in power operation and the transition to post-operation and dismantling.

The facility will be shut down as if one of the more than thirty overhauls that the team had behind them. From 6 p.m. they gradually retract the control rods and go down at 10 megawatts per minute. At 25 percent reactor output, the live steam diversion station opens, and the excess steam that the turbine no longer needs is then fed directly into the condenser. Shortly before midnight we are so low that the reverse power protection triggers the turbine shutdown. The quick-closing valves are closed, the steam flow stops, the generator switch opens and disconnects the system from the mains. From this point in time, our 70 megawatts of own consumption will no longer be produced by us, and Grohnde has met the deadline stipulated in the Atomic Energy Act: shutdown “by December 31 at the latest. 2021 "

Germany: consumers hit by high gas and electricity prices; myth of cheap renewables

 As three nuclear power plants have been shut down on new year's eve consumers face skyrocketing prices for gas and elecricity. Consumers pay the price of the energy change in Germany, writes WELT:

Many consumers eager to shop are impatiently waiting for the bargain day called “Black Friday” in the coming week. According to an old tradition, on the last weekend in November you can buy new electricity guzzlers for the household particularly cheaply. But already this week, a completely different “Black Friday” on the energy market may not leave much of the shopping appetite of many shoppers.

Because energy suppliers who want to change their electricity and gas prices on January 1st must, according to the law, announce this six weeks in advance, that is: on the Friday of the week that ends. The announced price increases are likely to trigger a real energy price shock for many.

Germany: will the coal phase-out lead to a gypsum shortage?

 While the conversion of coal into electricity is about to be phased out a considerable byeffect has to be considered: gypsum is an important byproduct of coal power plants that is extracted by flue-gas desulfurization (FGD). Experts caution about a foreseeable lack of gypsum which is widely used in construction, writes WELT:

There is broad social and political consensus on phasing out coal-fired power generation. Hopefully, we will still find out where the electricity will come from on windless winter nights. But another substance will also become scarce when the coal-fired power plants go out of operation: gypsum.

So far largely overlooked by the general public, it is becoming clear that the white universal building material will slip into a supply gap by the 1930s at the latest. Because today more than half of the material - exactly 55 percent in Germany - comes from flue gas desulphurisation plants (FGD). These amounts will no longer apply in the future.

It will be difficult to do without, because gypsum is almost a kind of miracle material: it can be shaped in any way, moisture-regulating, non-flammable, infinitely recyclable, mineral. It's found in countless uses. Only rarely in medicine, where for bone fractures instead of the legendary plaster leg, other solutions with plastic splints are often used.

Germany: coal beats wind power in 2021

 The energetic balance for 2021 reveals that fossile fuels were able to increase their output compared to renewables, writes WELT:

The climate politicians of the traffic-light-coalition have bad timing. They had only just decided to bring the coal phase out to 2030, when the frowned upon electricity producers are once again demonstrating their importance for the energy supply with all their might.

Lignite power plants produced 18 percent more electricity in 2021 than in the previous year, while hard coal power plants even increased their output by almost 27 percent. This is what it says in the annual balance sheet that the Federal Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW) has now published.

EU: France and Germany strike deal on future usage of nuclear in Europe

 In an emergency summit of EU- energy secretaries, which was convened to work out responses to the high energy prices the participants agreed that nuclear will still be part of the european energy mix. The french government got its way against detractors of nuclear energy in other goverment of the Bloc writes WELT:

The subject was not on the agenda, but the advocates of nuclear power did not allow themselves to be dissuaded. At the emergency summit of the EU energy ministers, a show event at which the high energy prices should be publicized, the camp of the pro-nuclear countries spoke up anyway.

"Many delegations" have demanded that Brussels take a quick position on nuclear power, said the Slovenian Minister of Infrastructure Jernej Vrtovec on Tuesday afternoon after the meeting.

Nord Stream 2: german politicians blame chancellor Merkel for high energy prices

 Several politicians blamed the hiking energy on Merkel's inactivity and naivity in dealing with russian president Putin, thus enabling him to blackmail Europeans with gas prices, writes german newspaper BILD: 

The signs couldn't have been clearer.

For years, experts and politicians, who know how Russia repeatedly uses energy as a weapon, have warned that the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea will come with a political price. Not only for Ukraine, but above all for Germany.

Doubling the Russian-German gas transport capacity by bypassing all European partners would not result in a diversification of the sources of supply, as Chancellor Merkel and her foreign and economic ministers have been claiming for years. Instead, it creates one-sided dependencies, gives Putin influence over German politics and, above all, the power to freeze ourselves and others if we don't play by his rules.

But Angela Merkel (67) ignored all warnings.

Even when the completion of Nord Stream 2 was about to begin in the summer and Putin began to implement his plan, Merkel did what she did so often in crisis situations over the years - nothing.

► Nothing happened when Russia's state gas giant Gazprom announced in June that from October it would only feed half as much gas into the “Yamal” pipe via Belarus and Poland.

► Nothing happened when Gazprom announced in August that it would also drastically reduce additional bookings through Ukraine from October.

► Even when the Kremlin announced just one week after the completion of the Baltic Sea pipeline in September that “the fastest possible commissioning of Nord Stream 2 would of course compensate for natural gas prices in Europe”, Merkel did nothing to avert the impending catastrophe at the last second .

Today gas at the European trading point in the Netherlands costs twice as much as when the extortion tube was completed five weeks ago, and Vladimir Putin only made it clear on Wednesday that without the commissioning of Nord Stream 2, "the tensions on the European energy market" would persist .

What threatens is an extremely expensive winter, for which experts hold the Chancellor partly responsible.

"Germany's precarious situation results from various wrong decisions by the governments under Ms. Merkel," says Ostpolitik expert Jan Behrends (51) from the Leibniz Center for Contemporary History in Potsdam. These include "the hasty nuclear phase-out, the construction of the Nord Stream pipelines and the failed policy on Russia," the Russia expert told BILD.

The Eastern Europe expert Renata Alt (56, FDP) also goes tough with the Chancellor in court.

She told BILD: “The current gas price explosion is not least due to the naivety of the two grand coalitions under Angela Merkel's chancellorship. Anyone who sows naivety in dealing with Vladimir Putin's system will reap dependency and an energy crisis. "

Alt further criticized the outgoing Chancellor: “For a project that has no added value for Germany, Ms. Merkel has jeopardized our relations with EU partners such as Poland and the Baltic states. There is nothing to explain this ingratiation to Russia and nothing to excuse. "

ECJ: Germany Federal Network Agency must obtain more independence

 In a groundbreaking decision, the European Court of Justice ruled that the german Federal Networg Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) must gain more independence from political directions of the german government. A verdict with far-reaching consequences writes WELT:

Who is allowed to use the electricity and gas lines and when? How much are the transfer fees? How strong and where are the networks being expanded? In Germany, the Federal Network Agency regulates these questions, which are crucial for the energy transition and the supply of German citizens - but not alone.

Politicians had given themselves a say in Paragraph 24 of the Energy Industry Act: Whatever the Bonn regulatory authority decides, has followed strict government guidelines and regulations ever since. But that's over now.

In a groundbreaking ruling, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that the Federal Network Agency's lack of political independence violates European law. The Luxembourg judges found that the authority must be able to make decisions completely free of federal requirements.

This is the only way to ensure that the authority's decisions are "impartial and non-discriminatory, which precludes the possibility of preferential treatment of companies and economic interests associated with the government, the majority or at least political power." , which accused the federal government of inadequate implementation of European law in a total of four cases.

Nord Stream 2: USA and Germany reach agreement

After month long negotiations Germany and the US came to a compromise on the approach towards the contentious Nord Stream 2 pipeline. In particular the case of the sanctions against germany companies involved in the construction and the safeguard of Ukraine's interest as a gas transit country.

Read the reporting in german newspaper WELT:

The US and Germany have reached an agreement that allows the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline to be completed without the imposition of new US sanctions. State Secretary Victoria Nuland said this to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US Congress on Wednesday.

Both governments plan to announce details of the agreement shortly. Washington and Berlin have agreed to impose sanctions on Russia and German companies if Moscow should use the pipeline as a political weapon, said the third highest US diplomat.

The federal government had previously expressed confidence that an agreement would soon be reached in the dispute with the USA over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The financial news agency Bloomberg and the "Wall Street Journal" had reported, citing sources in Berlin and Washington, that an agreement had been reached.

In the agreement, Germany promises Ukraine additional financial aid of a good 200 million euros. Berlin wants to fund bilateral energy projects in Ukraine with around 70 million euros, especially in the field of renewable energies and energy efficiency, as stated in the agreement published on Wednesday.

Nuclear waste: France and Germany find agreement on taking back containers

 Source: WELT

Germany has agreed with France on a new way to take back castors containing highly radioactive nuclear waste. According to a joint information paper from the Federal Ministry of Economics and the Federal Environment Ministry, three to five containers with highly radioactive nuclear waste are to be returned from La Hague, France, to the Philippsburg interim storage facility in Baden-Württemberg by 2024. This would complete the return of all nuclear waste that Germany has to take back from France. According to the ministries, the agreement should be decided in plenary this Thursday.

The original plan provided for the return of 157 containers with medium-level radioactive material from the French plant in La Hague. Five castor casks with medium-level radioactive waste were originally intended to be returned to the Philippsburg interim storage facility and 152 casks with medium-level metal residues from refurbished fuel assemblies to the Ahaus interim storage facility in North Rhine-Westphalia.

EU: Commission approves German support for cogenerated electricity

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, the prolongation and modification of an existing German scheme to support the production of electricity from new, modernised and retrofitted highly efficient cogeneration (‘CHP') plants (except coal and lignite-fired CHP). The scheme (‘Kraft-Wärme-Kopplungsgesetz' – ‘KWKG 2020'), which is approved until 2026, will further promote energy efficiency, lead to a better integration of cogenerated power into the German electricity market and lower CO2 emissions, without unduly distorting competition.

Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “The German scheme will promote energy efficiency and contribute to further reductions in CO2 emissions, in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal. Compared to the existing German scheme to support cogenerated electricity, the new scheme introduces new features which aim at further ensuring the competitiveness of the tenders through which the support will be granted, as well as at keeping electricity prices low for consumers and incentivising cogeneration plants to operate at times of higher electricity demand, that is when it's needed the most.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_21_2842