Germany as an energy-producing country - quo vadis?

Secure, sufficient electricity supplies available at any time, as guaranteed in Germany, are vital to the existence of our modern society. Under the conditions of deregulated markets, it must continue to be possible in Germany to offer reliable, economical and non-polluting energy supplies. These three factors should enjoy equal importance in energy policy decisions in the interest of sustainability. The skewed balance caused by political preferences as experienced at the present time can jeopardize the general objective of optimization of the three factors in the long run. As in no other country, the power industry in Germany had to make a considerable adaptation effort, inter alia, because of market deregulation, airborne pollutant reduction, and agreements on the operating life of existing nuclear power plants. Other problems are likely to arise in the near future, e.g. in connection with emission trading. The power industry is willing and able to solve these future problems. This is true in particular of the expected replacement of power plants of approx. 40 000 MW generating capacity in Germany, where the European framework must be taken into account with a replacement requirement of approx. 200 000 MW. This implies investments of euro 50 billion in Germany alone, which can be made only if there is sufficient security in planning for the operators of power plants. The choice of efficient and economically viable power generation technologies must be possible in this respect. (orig.)