Energy talk with Markus Lanz
“Electricity must reach consumers cheaply”
By Marko Schlichting
4/7/2023 4:51 am
What will the energy supply of the future look like? Markus Lanz wants to know that from his guests. He doesn’t get a clear answer. A wind power entrepreneur sees the price as a lever for the renewables.
Anyone who watched the ZDF talk show Markus Lanz this time will be enriched by two experiences: How to laugh away embarrassments as a moderator – and how to continuously not answer questions.
The latter shows CSU General Secretary Martin Huber. He’s brilliant at ignoring questions he doesn’t like. Right at the beginning of the conversation about renewable energies, Huber explains that Bavaria is in the middle of the field among the German federal states in the field of wind power, and that the Free State will now catch up because wind turbines can now be 220 meters high and therefore more efficient. Moderator Lanz asks how many wind turbines were connected to the grid in Bavaria last year. Huber replies: “Do you know who files the most lawsuits against wind turbines? These are the nature conservation associations.”
The correct answer would have been 14. The German press agency reported this in January, citing industry information. In all of Germany there were 551. Towards the end of the program, Huber claims that the traffic light coalition wants to decide that all heaters will have to be replaced next year. The three other guests and the moderator drive him into the parade. Terms like “nonsense” and “alternative truths” are used. In fact, the draft bill for the new building energy law always stated that only defective heating systems had to be replaced.
Home energy and base load capability
Moderator Lanz has now lost his laughter. He asks the CSU general secretary why he is spreading such false statements. At first he tries to ignore the question. Then he replies: “At the beginning it was already considered that there would be a need for restructuring – Huber probably means “exposing” here -, of course also with the specifications of the traffic lights and the European Union, which was then weakened a bit.” That’s not true either.
Nevertheless, Huber, who is obviously already in campaign mode, also has a few points worth considering. So he speaks of “home energy” and means above all the renewable energies, where Bavaria is at the top. “The special feature that we have in Bavaria is that we have more than 50 percent base load capacity for renewable energies thanks to the strength of hydropower and biomass. That’s always forgotten. That’s why it depends on the mix. I always find it It’s a bit of a shame if you only focus on the wind when it comes to renewables and put everyone else on the sidelines.”
In fact, Huber brings an important idea into play here with the base load capability. The point here is that power generation plants should ensure sufficient power generation as a base load. Base load is the share of electricity that is generally required by industry and households. When supplying electricity, there is usually a mix of systems with high and low base load capability. Systems with a high base load capability supply the constant current that must always flow. In the past, these were mainly nuclear power plants. Systems with a low base load capacity ensure that there is enough electricity when more is needed. These include solar and wind power plants.
Acceptance instead of maximum distance
The more of these systems are built, the higher their base load capacity, says the traffic light coalition. Huber disagrees and stresses at Lanz: “That’s why we campaigned for the nuclear power plants to be left on the grid longer.” Wind power entrepreneur Johannes Lackmann also speaks of domestic energies. “For me, these are energies that we don’t have to import.” This is important so that Germany does not become dependent on despots who disregard human rights. Many forms of energy could be promoted here, including wind energy, says the expert.
Environmental activist Pauline Brünger criticizes that the 1000 meter rule still applies in Bavaria – with a few exceptions. There it is called the 10H rule. It states that the distance between a “residential development” and a wind turbine must be one kilometer. In Bavaria, however, there are exceptions, for example in forests or near motorways and commercial areas. The distance can be smaller.
Lackmann also considers this regulation to be wrong. For him it is important to continue to convince the population of the necessity of the energy transition. That’s why you shouldn’t say that you want to set up wind turbines as far away from the communities as possible, but that you have to convince the communities of renewable energies, as in North Rhine-Westphalia. “We have a high level of acceptance of wind turbines in NRW,” says Lackmann. “One of the reasons for this is that we involve citizens with cheap electricity tariffs.”
Germany could become a role model
In addition, the industry also wants electricity from renewable energies. “We have several communities where businesses have joined forces and written to the mayor so that the community makes space available,” says the entrepreneur. “We don’t need to talk about obligations or the provision of space. If the commercial enterprises set themselves up like this, the topic is over.”
It works similarly in Bavaria, says Huber. “But renewables aren’t just about wind. It’s also about biomass, photovoltaic, hydroelectric and geothermal.” Lackmann agrees with that in principle, but he concedes when it comes to hydrogen: it’s too expensive in the long run. Environmental activist Büngert is in favor of a compromise: “The challenge would be to produce as much electricity as possible from renewable sources such as wind and solar, and that we use expensive hydrogen to fall back on it at special moments.”
In the end, the guests can’t really agree on the right way to generate energy. But Lackmann makes a clear point: “If we manage to present renewable energies as cheap and reliable, that would also be a role model for other countries. But what we are doing at the moment is that we are the country that makes electricity expensive power. We must not continue with this. The electricity must reach consumers cheaply.”