Nuclear phase-out can make Germany trailblazer - Merkel

http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/05/16/208107/nukes-germany-transition-renewable-energy/

No nukes, No problem. Germany is proving a rapid transition to renewable energy is possible

By climateguestblogger on May 16, 2011 at 9:52 am

Within four decades, one of the world’s leading economies will be powered almost entirely by wind, solar, biomass, hydro, and geothermal power.

Stephen Lacey: As Germany is showing, it is very possible to get large penetrations of renewable energy while phasing out nuclear energy. With bold political and social support, a consistent incentive framework for clean energy investment, and creative thinking about how to deploy geographically-dispersed resources, Germany is undergoing a major transition in its energy sector.

Below, two experts on the German experience “” Wilson Rickerson of Meister Consultants and Arne Jungjohann of the Heinrich Boll Foundation ”” describe how the country will “reduce carbon emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 (and 80% by 2050)” without nukes.

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The scale of change that will be required for Germany to meet its renewable energy targets is unprecedented. In September 2010, the conservative government under Chancellor Merkel released its Energy Concept, which outlines the government’s plan to reduce carbon emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 (and 80% by 2050) in part by increasing the national share of renewable electricity to more than 35% in 2020 and to 80% by 2050. Within four decades, one of the world’s leading economies will be powered almost entirely by wind, solar, biomass, hydro, and geothermal power.

The German government is combining its push for renewables with a rapid retreat from its existing nuclear assets. Following the Fukushima disaster, the German government announced a three-month shutdown of seven of its seventeen nuclear power plants and a review of its nuclear strategy. Some analysts have argued that a nuclear scale-back in Germany would prevent the country from reaching its long-term climate and energy goals. In reality, Germany is already well on its way to transitioning from nuclear and fossil fuel power to renewable energy. It is likely that the nuclear crisis in Japan will only accelerate progress towards its goals.

Within the next decade: Germany’s Nuclear Phase Out

There has been strong anti-nuclear sentiment in Germany since the nuclear accident in Chernobyl in 1986. This has been reflected in a series of legislation placing limitations on nuclear build out. In 2002, Germany passed legislation establishing a phase out of nuclear power by 2022. In 2010, the Merkel government confirmed the phase out in general, but extended plant lives by an additional 8-12 years. This extension, which was framed as a necessary “bridge” to a renewable energy future, was unpopular with the public. Soon after the Fukushima crisis, Chancellor Merkel’s party (the conservative Christian Democratic Union, or CDU) lost a key election in the state of Baden-W¼rttemberg. The historic election was largely seen as a referendum on nuclear power and it handed the governorship of Baden-W¼rttemberg, one of Germany’s largest and most economically powerful states, to the Green Party, following close to six decades of CDU rule.

At the national level, there is now a new consensus across the political parties in Germany that the nuclear phase out will again be accelerated. The question is not if Germany will phase out nuclear power, but how quickly. Instead of being shut down some time after 2030, current proposals envision full nuclear shut down some time between 2015 and 2025.

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