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ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE
TOPIC
ENERGY REFORM – A PROJECT FOR GENERATIONS
The Energy Reform is the single most import-
ernment is thus pressing ahead with the sus-
ant economic and environmental policy task
tainable restructuring of the energy system,
in Germany. The Energy Reform refers to the
which began as long ago as 2000 with the first
restructuring of the country’s energy supply
resolution on an exit from nuclear power and
sources away from fossil fuels and nuclear
the promotion of the Renewable Energy
power, towards renewable energies. By 2050
Sources Act. In Germany the promotion of
at the latest, a minimum of 80 percent of
renewable energies began back in the 1990s
electricity and 60 percent of all energy in
and in the year 2000 was made into law in the
Germany will come from renewable ener-
form of the Renewable Energy Sources Act.
gies, so the plan. The next step will involve
gradually shutting down all nuclear power
Exit from nuclear power
stations by 2022; furthermore, by 2025 40 to
based on long-term planning
45 percent of electricity will be generated by
renewable sources. Since mid-2015 there
Likewise in the year 2000, the Federal Gov-
have only been eight nuclear power stations
ernment agreed with the German energy
still in operation, providing around 15 per-
companies on an exit from nuclear power by
cent of the electricity mix. The Federal Gov-
2022. As such, the resolutions the Federal
Government passed in 2011 follow in the tradition of restructuring of the energy system to
LIST
rely on sustainable energy sources. It views
the accelerated reorganisation of the energy
∙ Largest onshore wind farm:
Reussenköge in Schleswig-Holstein
system, which in 2011 the parties represented in the German Bundestag passed with the
express approval of a large majority of the
∙ Largest offshore wind farm:
alpha ventus in the North Sea
∙ Most powerful wind turbine:
E126/7570 kW by Enercon
population following the nuclear disaster in
Fukushima in Japan, as “a necessary step on
the way to an industrial society committed
to the idea of sustainability and the preservation of Creation”.
∙ Largest solar park: Meuro/Schipkau
However, it is not only the environment and
∙ Biggest electricity exchange: EEX
(European Energy Exchange) in Leipzig
climate that are intended to benefit from the
Energy Reform, but the German economy as
well – the primary aim being to eliminate