History of the energy transition in Germany: from the 1950s to 2019

Renn, Ortwin; Marshall, Jonathan

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-819515-4.00002-7

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Germany was an early EU pioneer in onshore wind energy planning, with the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) incentivizing feed-in of renewable energy to the grid as early as 2000 [99]. Following the Fukushima reactor accident and the 'Fridays for Future' climate protection movement, the German government aimed to phase out nuclear energy and coal-red power generation by 2038, relying more on renewable energy [3,[99][100][101]. Wind energy is steered through state-wide spatial plans, regional plans and/or land use plans at municipal level [102][103][104].…”

Section: The Case Of German Onshore Wind Energy Planning (Case C) Ste...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Coordination challenges in wind energy development: Lessons from cross-case positive planning approaches to avoid multi-level governance ‘free-riding’

Weber

2023

Preprint

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Achieving national renewable energy targets presents multi-level governance challenges, such as uneven progress and discrepancies arising from varying subordinate specifications and incentives on wind energy development. Governments have commenced adopting ‘positive planning’ that aim to integrate energy targets with spatial and land use planning, yet detailed discussions regarding wind energy development remain scarce. This paper assesses three cases in Germany and Sweden within criteria-based explanatory case studies to provide planners and policy makers with knowledge on key factors, lessons learned, and challenges. Positive planning appears to center on a strong energy target focus, limited space, and a balanced approach, shaped by the socio-political context. While Germany more recently embraces positive planning, Sweden started ambitiously on a national level but encounters policy and planning challenges. Planning agencies play an important role in promoting wind energy targets at mid-scale levels; however, legally binding targets matter. Striking a balance between energy targets and addressing land use concerns without disregarding them requires managing a delicate trade-off. Early communication and inter-agency collaboration, as seen in Sweden, might facilitate identifying compromises, navigating trade-off between species protection and renewable energy and offering municipal incentives. Nonetheless, satisfactory spatial trade-offs for long-term proof of concept remains a challenge.

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Section: The Case Of German Onshore Wind Energy Planning (Case C) Ste...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Coordination challenges in wind energy development: Lessons from cross-case positive planning approaches to avoid multi-level governance ‘free-riding’

Weber

2023

Preprint

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“…While they provide legitimation for renewable energies and increasing investment in new infrastructures, the case of the German Energiewende exemplifies that energy innovation policy is a highly contested field. There, incumbents from the fossil fuel industry used the nuclear phase-out to replace nuclear with coal under the framing of renewable energy transition (Cherp et al 2016) and, lately, new zoning regulation brings the diffusion of wind energy to a halt (Renn and Marshall 2020).…”

Section: A Brief History Of Energy In the Political Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

Electricity infrastructure and innovation in the next phase of energy transition—amendments to the technology innovation system framework

Bettin

2020

Rev Evol Polit Econ

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A new phase of energy transition makes auxiliary technologies such as energy storage and other flexibility options more important. Economic policy that aims to steer this transition needs to grasp the complex system dynamics underlying energy and society. This conceptual article gives an overview of energy technology innovation theories that exemplify the growing importance of flexibility for electricity usage. First, the article presents different conceptualizations of technology innovation and diffusion. Second, how energy systems are embedded in physical infrastructures and social power relations is shown with a brief history of electricity in contemporary industrialized societies. Third, energy innovation is discussed in context of challenges of the upcoming energy transition. Fourth, energy technology innovations are further contextualized in light of insights from political economy and energy social sciences. Finally, the discussed approaches are synthesized to amend the holistic technology innovation system approach for studying energy technology innovations such as energy storage.

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“…The German energy transition is characterised by rapid changes (Markard 2018), disruption (Johnstone and Kivimaa 2018;Fuchs 2019) and highly divergent perspectives (Juerges, Leahy, and Newig 2020;Köppel and Biehl in preparation;Sovacool et al 2022). While Germany's energy transition started with transforming the energy supply sector from fossil to renewable energy sources (Renn and Marshall 2020;Morris and Jungjohann 2016), the term 'energy transition' now also comprises the end-use sectors of heating/cooling, transport and industry. Although it is technically feasible to build a 100% renewable energy system (Prognos AG, Öko-Institut e.V., and Wuppertal Institut 2020; Kendziorski et al 2021;Traber, Fell, and Hegner 2021;Hansen, Breyer, and Lund 2019), the German case illustrates persistent barriers and bottlenecks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the German energy supply sector looks back at almost 50 years of the transition process (Morris and Jungjohann 2016;Renn and Marshall 2020), in more recent times, attention has been given to transforming the end-use sectors, heating and cooling 3 , transport, and industry.…”

Section: Introduction Of Case Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wicked facets of the German energy transition – examples from the electricity, heating, transport, and industry sectors

Biehl¹,

Missbach²,

Riedel³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Wicked problems occur when decision-makers face constant change or unprecedented challenges and when uncertainty, complexity, and stakeholder divergence are high. We shed light on wicked problems in the German energy transition. Our methods consist of a multiple-case study and comparative multi-criteria analysis, utilising the wicked problems theoretical framework introduced by Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber (1973). Based on four exemplary cases, our research covers four core energy transition sectors: energy supply (developing onshore wind power), heating/cooling (using shallow geothermal energy systems), transport (decarbonising the transport sector), and industry (decarbonising the chemical industry sector). Cross-case results illustrate where and how the 10-point frame of wicked problems manifests in the German energy transition. We do not argue that the German energy transition is inherently wicked, yet we stress the need to consider potentially wicked facets of energy transition challenges. Our results show that the four cases exhibit more wicked tendencies in the governance domain than in the technical dimension. All cases exhibit wicked facets in the governance dimension, given strong normative assumptions, value divergence, and complex governance structures with a plurality of actors. From a technical perspective, the four cases still exhibit some wicked tendencies, e.g. raw material provision, skilled workforce, and waste management. The cases differ in technology maturity, state of knowledge, and degree of policy output and regulations. In applying the wickedness lens, we acknowledge that energy transition problems cannot be solved merely by technical measures but need to be tamed. Our work reflects which challenges and main barriers pertain to the four cases of the German energy transition. Understanding the elements of wickedness in a specific problem in the first step offers insights for addressing and managing these challenges in the next step.

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History of the energy transition in Germany: from the 1950s to 2019

Cited by 8 publications

References 17 publications

Coordination challenges in wind energy development: Lessons from cross-case positive planning approaches to avoid multi-level governance ‘free-riding’

Coordination challenges in wind energy development: Lessons from cross-case positive planning approaches to avoid multi-level governance ‘free-riding’

Electricity infrastructure and innovation in the next phase of energy transition—amendments to the technology innovation system framework

Wicked facets of the German energy transition – examples from the electricity, heating, transport, and industry sectors

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