Discussion and Working Paper // 2014

The Future of the Energy Transition in Germany

Although the goals of the country's energy transition (Energiewende)are widely accepted in Germany, the specific route to get there is itself a matter of great controversy. The individual measures that are part of the energy transition policy and the questions of how they interact and how they are embedded in the European context are objects of controversial scientific and public debate. Most recently, the consequences for the price of electricity have in particular been discussed intensely. Against this backdrop of wide-ranging criticism, the future course for promoting renewable energy will soon be set. The Renewable Energy Sources Act (the Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz, EEG), the main instrument of energy transition policy with its feed-in tariffs, is supposed to be fundamentally revised in the course of this year. A precondition for achieving a coherent further development of the energy transition policy and for receiving the sound support of a critical public is that the long-term consequences of political decisions on a complex sociotechnical energy system be taken into account. The requirements of such a system are not satisfied by policy approaches or recommendations that target short-term effects or that are perceptions of problems extrapolated from individual sectors. On the basis of its integrated research on the energy transition, researchers from the Helmholtz Alliance “Energy-Trans” take a stand on current important controversial issues from the energy transformation and specify fundamental challenges to shaping a sustainable energy transition policy.

Gawel, Erik, Paul Lehmann, Klaas Korte, Sebastian Strunz, Jana Bovet, Wolfgang Köck, Philipp Massier, Andreas Löschel, Dominik Schober, Dörte Ohlhorst, Kerstin Tews, Miranda Schreurs, Matthias Reeg and Sandra Wassermann (2014), The Future of the Energy Transition in Germany, Helmholtz-Allianz ENERGY-TRANS Policy Brief.

Authors Erik Gawel // Paul Lehmann // Klaas Korte // Sebastian Strunz // Jana Bovet // Wolfgang Köck // Philipp Massier // Andreas Löschel // Dominik Schober // Dörte Ohlhorst // Kerstin Tews // Miranda Schreurs // Matthias Reeg // Sandra Wassermann