Green Energy News| October 2023

Germany reaches six billion euro climate target three years early

The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development reports that Germany has reached its EUR 6 billion international climate finance target three years ahead of time. The target, announced by former chancellor Angela Merkel at the G7 Summit in 2021, has seen finance rise to around EUR 6.4 billion in 2022. The funds are part of a pledge made in 2009 by wealthy nations to raise USD 100 billion annually from 2020 to support developing countries reduce their emission levels and adapt to the effects of climate change. 

Suedlink to guarantee security of power supply in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg

Construction has started on the 700 km Suedlink line to transmit electricity from the wind regions in northern Germany to southern Germany. An approximately 5.2 km long walkable tunnel with an internal diameter of around four meters will be built under the River Elbe. The EUR 10 billion development comes as the direct west coast line to Denmark nears completion. The project, expected to be completed by 2028, will guarantee security of supply in the federal states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.  

Germany’s private solar boom

Germany is enjoying a solar energy boom, with private photovoltaic (PV) installations up 146 percent. Around 159,000 PV systems for private houses were installed in the first quarter of the year, representing a 146 percent increase compared to the same period of the previous year. Announcing the figures, the German Solar Association expects demand for solar systems to grow in the double-digit range for the seventh year in succession this year.  

Germany and UK launch hydrogen partnership

Germany and the UK launched the United Kingdom-Germany Hydrogen Partnership in September at an event in the British Embassy in Berlin. The partnership, between the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, seeks to promote closer working cooperation on hydrogen technology and infrastructure development to promote mutually beneficial trade and investment opportunities in both countries. An inaugural conference was attended by high-level government representatives and industry stakeholders from the UK and Germany, with showcase German and UK projects highlighted. Germany Trade & Invest reports that the development is part of plans to establish an industrial hydrogen market following the example of the British offshore wind industry.  

France, Germany and Italy form critical raw materials alliance 

France, Germany and Italy have agreed to work together for the extraction, processing and recycling of critical raw materials essential for the energy transition. Ministers from the respective countries signed a joint communiqué agreeing increased coordination of proposals made at international fora including G7 working groups and shared positions on the EU Critical Raw Materials Act for further negotiations. The ministers of the EU's three largest economies said they would push joint targets for acquiring and treating strategic raw material, as well as “ambitious environmental criteria” that are to be applied in the process. The trio have set up a working group to follow up on the initiatives and said that the meeting in Berlin kicks-off a new series of trilateral activities aimed at strengthening their cooperation on European-level strategic topics. 

French-German industry transformation cooperation

German and French economy ministers Robert Habeck and Bruno Le Maire have reiterated their countries’ determination to cooperate on key industrial, energy and climate policy in September. Seeking to transform industry in the face of global competition, France and Germany have vowed to provide a robust defense of the EU from international protectionist trade subsidies. “In Europe, France and Germany are facing major challenges,“ Habeck said. “The global situation has changed a great deal. Globalization which functions as an interaction between free market forces in which anyone can succeed depending on demand and supply, is threatening to give way to a form of geopolitics where economic and energy questions are increasingly driven by interests: and that also means interests of power politics. As such Europe must cooperate closely, and within Europe France and Germany must cooperate.” French minister Le Maire reinforced minister Habeck’s position, noting that “We need a close and efficient partnership between France and Germany on issues such as climate protection, competitiveness, energy, innovation and growth.” 

BP and Total secure wind farm rights in Baltic and North Seas

BP and TotalEnergies have been awarded the rights to develop four offshore wind projects in the latest tender round. The two concerns have agreed to pay a combined EUR 12.6 billion for the rights in the world’s largest ever offshore wind auction. Germany is seeking to have 30 GW of offshore wind projects in place by 2030, rising to at least 40 GW by 2035 and at least 70 GW by 2045. Initial payments of EUR 678 million will be paid by July 2024, with the remaining 90 percent of the successful bid sum paid over a 20-year period once the projects go live. 

Austrian solar start-up expands to Germany

Austrian solar start-up Neoom has announced plans to expand to Germany with the opening of an office in Nuremberg. In May, the company increased series B financing of EUR 25 million with EUR 16 million secured from the B&C Group. The start-up produces PV systems, electricity storage and wall boxes for electric vehicles with partners installing them at the end-customer’s premises. Neoom is already working with 70 installation companies in Germany.