© Jared Preston / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Flag of Germany at the 2010 Thorpe Cup in the Georg-Gaßmann-Stadion in Marburg / Via Wikipedia
CV NEWS FEED // The CEO of RWE, Germany’s largest energy company, warned in an interview this week that Germans can expect soaring energy costs in what he called “the first signs of deindustrialization.”
“Germany’s wealth is based on strong industry,” said CEO Markus Krebber, adding that the surge in prices will lead companies to relocate outside of Germany unless the government allows for greater investment in renewable energy. “We don’t have as much energy as we need (…) this gap leads to high prices and thus to justified concerns about competitiveness.”
The government is working on schemes to keep energy prices affordable for industrial consumers.
His warning comes after Germany powered down its last three nuclear power plants in April as part of its “green energy” commitment. As reported by CatholicVote:
Germany leads the way in [European green energy] regulatory efforts, boasting the most aggressive green energy regulations in Europe. The progressive government aims to make Germany entirely free of nuclear energy by the end of this year (2022) and coal-free by 2030. By then, Germans will be getting 80% of their energy from “renewables,” or so the plan promises.
The problem is that the regulations are not working.
In 2021, the share of nuclear and coal energy in the power mix actually increased. Even as coal and nuclear plants are shutting down their operations, they are seeing increases in demand of over 7% due to “low output from renewables, and the development in energy and CO2 prices.”
Krebber acknowledged that politics, not concern for the German people, drove the decision to shut down nuclear power before the country was ready to transition to alternative energy sources:
The phasing out of nuclear energy in Germany is a political decision. Before arriving at this point today, nuclear energy was the subject of heated and passionate debates for decades. That chapter is now closed.
American journalist Mark Nelson pointed out on Twitter that just before the plants closed, Krebber reassured Germans that there would be no energy shortage.
