Review of the energy situation in Germany, 18 months after the decision of abandoning nuclear power

In March 2011, 3 days after the Fukushima accident, the German government announced the abandoning of nuclear power and its replacement by renewable energies. In 2011 the decrease of electrical power due to the abandoning of nuclear power was compensated according to 3 ways: first a slight decrease of the demand due to the combined effect of the economic crisis and a higher cost of energy, secondly an increase of the renewable energies (+18 TWh) and a cut in the German energy exports by a 2/3 factor from 11 TWh to 6 TWh. In 2012 the situation was less favorable: the German solar industry collapsed, difficulties on the off-shore wind energy appeared, large power fluctuations due to renewable energies disturbed the power grid, adequate sites for wind energy were more and more difficult to find, and high costs of natural gas had damaged the competitiveness of gas-fueled plants. Only coal- and lignite-fueled power plants are on the rise which is bad news for CO2 emissions. (A.C.)