Three years later, the Energiewende about to fail? Proceedings, Round table - 2 October 2014

After a contribution which discusses the content of a report made by the author for the French Senate on the French-German cooperation in the field of energy as a possible element of emergence of a Europe of energy, a contributor recalls and comments the objectives of the German energy transition, and the issue of economic, environmental and social sustainability of this energy transition. The next contribution, proposed by a German researcher, notably comments two main aspects of the German energy policy, the so-called Energiewende, the phasing out of nuclear and the deployment of renewables, and discusses their consequences, results and political background. A fourth contribution discusses the relationship between Germans and energy: fear and enthusiasm in the 19. and 20. century, impact of the Chernobyl accident and other industrial accidents which resulted in the development of renewable energies (this is a background factor which explains that this issue remains present in the Energiewende). The fifth contribution, proposed by a member of a German think tank working on issues related to energy transition, discusses the Energiewende as an energy-related, industrial, and society-related project (technology, cost issue, challenge to make the electric system flexible, issue of CO₂ emissions). The publication proposes a transcription of the debate on these different issues