Stuttgart (dpa-AFX)-The composition of electricity prices should be from the perspective of the TransnetBW boss Werner Götz Fairer. “The cost pressure is more noticeable than ever today,” said the manager of the German press agency in Stuttgart. A new federal government urgently needs to tackle the topic of financing and affordability of the energy transition, so that acceptance neither among citizens nor among the companies. “We have the time and I think it’s the right time,” said Götz.
Costs should no longer be distributed to all shoulders, as is currently the case, over rising network charges, said the management board. “From this we have to get away towards a stronger cause principle.” If you want something, you have to pay for it.
Lieschen Müller should not have to pay the bill
From Götz ‘point of view at the charging point in your own garage for the electric car, it can also be transferred to larger projects up to offshore wind farms: “We subsidize offshore wind through a free network connection,” he explained. “If each wind farm would pay its mains connection itself, there would suddenly be a completely different economy.” This would lead to the number of gigawatt installations.
“But then the one pays the bill that has the benefit,” said Götz. If Lieschen Müller pays the cost accounting of an e-car owner via network charges in her two-room apartment, this is not socially not tolerated. This perspective does not question the cornerstones of the energy transition.
Savings potential in billions
According to his conviction, all democratic parties will also hold on to the overall goal after the Bundestag election and continue the energy transition – although the priorities may be set differently. “But I am convinced that affect and costs are the number one topic – regardless of who is in the government.”
The transmission system operators, who are responsible for the large high and maximum voltage networks, still see savings potential in cable laying: The new electricity motorways in which TransnetBW is involved could be saved, if they hinted on masten instead of being buried underground.
“That hurts a lot”
A major problem for the manager is that the planned power plant strategy from the traffic light coalition was no longer in force and the necessary tenders for new power plants fail to do so. “It hurts a lot,” said Götz. “We assume that we will lose a year. That is already critical for us.” And that is still an optimistic estimate.
The background is that many power plants that today deliver electricity as a network reserve are 40 or 50 years old. “The fact is that reliability and availability are decreasing,” said Götz. The risk of a partial system failure (brownout) is low – but it shouldn’t happen. “Then economic damage would occur. And above all, we would also have to fear massive image and reputation damage.”
Götz warns of the entire debate of the election
Also, you cannot find new employees for these actually disused systems. And to train people in old power plants who later work in new systems that also work with hydrogen, are not so easy.
Originally, up to four times 2.5 gigawatts of hydrogen -compatible gas power plants were to be advertised last year. But this continued to be delayed and is now off the table due to the traffic lights, because the Bundestag no longer decides on the underlying law.
Götz assumes that a law will be adopted at the earliest after the summer break. He hopes that the power plant strategy will be passed quickly. But that alone is not enough. After that, a sensible addition to a capacity market must follow. Providers could be rewarded with a capacity market that keep the power plant capacities ready ./kre/jwe/dp/zb