Election holds key to ‘no nuke’ Germany

Date: 05/09/02

By Martin Banks

SUCCESS for Edmund Stoiber's Christian Democrats in this month's German elections would be a setback for the EU's booming renewables industry, according to a leading Green MEP.

Along with most proponents of wind and solar energy, Claude Turmes will be keeping his fingers crossed for a victory for Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats in the 22 September poll.

The reason? Germany, whose nuclear energy industry is the fourth largest in the world (only the US, Japan and France have greater nuclear capacity), is set to become nuclear-free by 2010.

A nuclear shutdown was put on the government's agenda by the Greens when they joined Schröder's ruling coalition after the 1998 election.

However, pro-nuclear Stoiber says he will reverse plans to close the country's 17 nuclear reactors if he gets elected.

Turmes, a member of the European Parliament's energy committee, accepts that electoral success for the Bavarian will be a serious blow to the renewables sector.

'The industry is enjoying something of a boom but a Stoiber victory will be a setback and not just for Germany, but for the EU as a whole,' he says.

It isn't hard to see why Turmes is so anxious. Germany, along with Spain, has the most dynamic renewables industry in the EU. More than 70,000 people are employed in the sector in Germany, compared with 30,000 in the nuclear industry.

'Any reversal of policy in Germany will have possible repercussions for the rest of the EU,' says Turmes.

Irrespective of the German election, Turmes believes there needs to be greater investment in renewables.

'I think it would be not so difficult for Europe to run on renewables alone within 50 to 70 years,' he says.

Member states are already introducing tax breaks and other incentives to boost green power's EU market share to 22 under last year's renewables directive, but progress beyond that target will depend on renewables' ability to compete.

'We do need to start looking at mass production. Only then will prices start to come down,' says the 42-year-old

Luxembourger. 'It's really like a learning curve. In the early days, things like mobile phones and personal computers were expensive. It was only when they were mass-produced that they became less pricey.

'The same goes for something like wind turbines. Every time you double the production of solar cells or wind turbines, costs go down by 15-20.'

He also dismissed assertions by proponents of nuclear power that even with solar and wind power there is an environmental cost to pay.

'To compare renewables with nuclear in this way is plain ridiculous,' he says. 'It's not surprising they are saying this, though, as the nuclear sector is really struggling. After 11 September, even insurance companies are refusing to insure nuclear reactors.'

Europe's future can no longer be based on a love affair with petrol or an addiction to oil, argues the MEP. 'Luckily, we do have an alternative. A major switch to renewable energy is not only our best option - it is our only long-term option.'

Germany, whose nuclear energy industry is the fourth largest in the world, is set to become nuclear-free by 2010. Article is part of a European Voice survey on energy.