German energiewende - quo vadis?

Abstract

Under the impression of the Fukushima events in 2011, the German Government decided to immediately close down the seven oldest German nuclear power plants (built before 1980) and one younger plant, which had been under scrutiny due to several incidents. To secure energy supply, a set of measures concerning renewable energy deployment and the increase in energy efficiency has been established, together with nuclear phase out, which are often referred to as the "Energiewende". After more than two years into this transition, the challenges and opportunities of the Energiewende become measurable. The contribution reports findings from the monitoring process. One focus of the contribution is the analysis of the economic effects of the Energiewende thus far and in the near future. With the help of a macro-econometric model, two different paths of development are compared with respect to their effects on GDP, employment, and investment and value-added in different economic sectors.