The less-often-told story of the Energiewende is that German engineering and its industrial base are at the forefront of global efforts to integrate renewables into energy networks. The extraordinary amount of money Germany is spending to transition its market away from fossil fuels and nuclear energy sources is looking increasingly like an investment in the country’s future industrial competitiveness. Most experts have estimated the cost of Germany’s ‘ Energiewende ’ policy in the hundreds of billions of euro, some as much as a trillion euro. However, the less-often-told story of the Energiewende is that German engineering and its industrial base are at the forefront of global efforts to integrate renewables into energy networks.
To better understand the Energiewende policy, UL took an in-depth look at Germany’s decision to transform their energy market in 2015 and publish her findings in a white paper, “ Putting the Pieces Together: Transition and Transformation in Global Energy Markets .” The paper examines Germany’s efforts, particularly the technical and engineering aspects, so as to gauge Germany’s likely success in meeting its aggressive targets. In spite of what has been mostly negative coverage in the United States about Germany’s energy ambitions, in reality, their efforts are actually very successful. After all, in terms of overall renewable energy usage, the country passed the 30 percent mark of total use in 2014, and plans to reach 40 to 50 percent countrywide by 2025. By 2050, that figure is expected to grow to 80 percent. As a result, the most important question is how this has been achieved. To uncover the real story, UL spent time on-the-ground in Germany with a large variety of constituents across the energy ecosystem. UL posed extensive questions in order to find out how they are making this energy transformation work, as well […]