Mr Ommeln, on the homepage of EnBW Erneuerbare Energien GmbH you state that you intend to generate around 20% of your electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020. Has this pledge been affected by recent events?
The expansion of renewable energies is and will continue to be a fundamental objective for EnBW. For example, we recently put the first commercial offshore wind farm in Germany into operation. We set the standard and are remaining on this course. In the coming years, EnBW intends to invest around EUR 3 billion in the expansion of renewable energies alone.
According to our survey, almost half the German population is in favor of Germany’s immediate withdrawal from nuclear energy programs. A majority states that they would be willing to take into account higher energy costs resulting from this. In your opinion, how high would the costs of an immediate abandonment of nuclear energy be for consumers?
We must make clear that changing an energy supply system costs money. It is not really possible to predict today what proportion of this would be passed on to the end consumer. However, a recent calculation conducted on behalf of the BDI gives some indication, estimating that the total burden of the energy transition for German electricity customers would be in the region of EUR 51.1 billion between 2012 and 2020. The German energy agency Dena anticipates that the cost for private households will increase by around a fifth overall and although DIW believes it will be lower, it still expects a rise of up to EUR 240 more per year.
Have the events in Fukushima made you reconsider and change your personal energy use?
Energy efficiency was already an important issue for me prior to the Fukushima disaster and it will continue to be so.
Thank you very much for the interview!
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