Former German Minister Of Economics Calls Energiewende “A Disaster”…”Careened Completely Out Of Control”

Former German Economics Minister Wolfgang Clement of the socialist SPD party says Germany’s once highly ballyhooed “Energiewende” (transition to green energy) “has careened completely out of control” and has hurt the country economically.

Clement

Germany’s former Economics Minister under Chancellor Gerhard Schroder calls the country’s “Energiewende” a disaster. Photo: www.bmwa.bund.de.htm.

The online Handelsblatt here reports that the former “Super Minister” in Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s SPD-Green government (1998-2005) has launched “sharp criticism” at the country’s energy transition, claiming the plan is in chaos and that there’s been a “lack of political, legal and technical synchronization“.

He also says the naivety involved in implementing green energies has been “breathtaking” and has turned into “a disaster”.

When it comes to the plan to implement the transition to green energy, Clement says there hasn’t been a plan, rather there has been 17 of them: one by the federal government and one by each of the 16 German states, all working disharmoniously and chaotically.

Clement added that the dumping of surplus unneeded green energy into foreign markets has been “one of the most dreadful businesses that has ever burdened the German economy“.

He also calls the expectation that Europe can somehow isolate itself from competition from cheap nuclear power coming from outside of its borders “crazy”.

Germany’s Energiewende has been sharply criticized in the past as it is in large part the main driver behind the country’s skyrocketing electricity prices, unstable power grid conditions, growing energy poverty and for marring the landscape with inefficient and ugly industrial wind turbines.

According to Clement, Germany’s electricity prices are among the very highest in Europe and has led energy intensive heavy industries to pack up and leave. Clement says a number of industries are now “under massive pressure”.

 

9 responses to “Former German Minister Of Economics Calls Energiewende “A Disaster”…”Careened Completely Out Of Control””

  1. Loodt Pretorius

    Wolfgang Clement says that the electricity prices in Germany are amongst the very highest in the world, so its mission accomplished for the Greenies, who like the Allies at the end of WWII, wanted to reduce Germany to an agrarian society.

    The Greenies want equality, and instead of increasing the standard of living in the Third World, their objective is to push down the standard of living in the rich countries.

    I am afraid there is nothing you can do about this until the German voters wake up to this fact and vote the rascals out of office.

  2. Mike Lowe

    Sorry to be pedantic, but should it not be “careered”?
    James Cook used to careen his ship – beached it so he could clean off the algae. That is the correct meaning of “careen”.

  3. John F. Hultquist

    Giving this one a second try —

    I find the following confusing:

    He also calls the expectation that Europe can somehow isolate itself from competition from cheap nuclear power coming from outside of its borders “crazy”.

    Where is the “cheap nuclear power” to come from? Or, maybe, the word Europe in the above is meant to be Germany.

  4. Royce Malloy

    ca·reen
    kəˈrēn/Submit
    verb
    1.
    turn (a ship) on its side for cleaning, caulking, or repair.
    2.
    NORTH AMERICAN
    move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way in a specified direction.
    “an electric golf cart careened around the corner”

  5. DirkH

    Well as electricity is only 1/7 of German primary energy consumption it’s not quite as bad as a sea blockade yet.

  6. DD More

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/01e65008-74a6-11e4-b30b-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz3QADgosls

    In 2000, Gerhard Schröder’s government launched the Energiewende when it announced subsidies for any company that produced green energy. This led to the explosive growth of renewables, which this year supplied more than a quarter of all German electricity.

    So, former Minister, why did you set it so badly when you started it?

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