So by the end of 2021, it was official, Germany has shut down half of its last 6 nuclear power plants which now shrinks the number to 3. These last 3 are to be shut down by the end of 2022. Many Germans are now wondering where all the electricity will come from if nuclear power is shut down and coal as “dirty energy” is also to be shut down. For the transition, the government wants to use natural gas, which is the next farce, because the gas tap from Russia is closed and they shut down their own gas fields in Europe. In addition, the relationship with Russia is becoming increasingly complicated, not least because of the stubbornness over the controversial gas pipeline Nordstream 2.
The plans of the German government to rely predominantly on wind and solar should make the Germans cautious because the prime example of California shows that this comes with significant power outages. Germany is not a country where the sun always shines and the wind does not always blow as one would like. Luckily, Germany has neighbors like France, where you can buy reliable electricity in case of an emergency.
Even the appointed EU Commission President von der Leyen recognized this by saying that the EU also needs reliable energy sources such as nuclear power and natural gas for the transition. Back then, she tweeted, “We also need a stable source, nuclear, and in transition, of course, natural gas.”
Now Germany will be put on the sidelines because the EU will prepare plans in January to put nuclear power and natural gas on the green list. Concrete proposals are to be worked out as to how the two forms of energy could fit into the EU’s “sustainable finance taxonomy”.
In the EU, each member state can still decide its own energy mix, which further calls into question the premature nuclear phase-out. Germany, as the largest industrial nation in Europe, is also dependent on reliable electricity, especially at a time when energy costs in Europe have jumped to unprecedented levels.