Governance challenges in the energy transition: Practice of Energiewende management in Germany

Transcription

1 Les politiques d utilisation des ressources énergétiques: Entre les exigences du Governance challenges in the energy transition: Practice of Energiewende management in Germany Bouakkaz Naoual Boulmekhal meriem Setif University.. Abstract The current energy system is deeply embedded in our economy, consumption patterns, regulations and infrastructure. However, transitions to radically different energy systems are inevitable. The uncertainties about these future transitions are high, which is one of the reasons why different actors make different assessments regarding the urgency of the problem and the desired direction. From a governance perspective, dealing with the desire for more sustainable performance of the system and the impossibility of centrally governing this process pose an enormous long-term challenge to policy and governance. To this end, this paper presents a framework for examining the challenges of energy governance and for identifying factors which assist or constrain the country's path to a low-carbon economy. And it presents the Energiewende in Germany as a successful experience faces new systemic challenges and has an interest to promote renewables energy. Germany perceives the rapid dissemination of renewables as crucial in order to minimize climate change and to ensure an inclusive sustainable energy supply. Keywords: energy governance, energy transition, Energiewende, energy security, low-carbon economy, Germany.. امللخص: إن هظام الطاقة الحالي جزء ال حجزأ من أهماط الاستهالك والبنى الححح ة والخشس عات في مخحلف الاقحصاد ات الحد ثة ومع ذلك فإن الححىل إلى هظام طاقة مخحلف أمس ال مفس منه. وقد ثزا دت الشكىك حىل هرا الححىل املسحقبلي مما جعل ألاطساف الفاعلة ثضع ثق مات محعددة ملدي إلحاح املشكلة والاثجاه املطلىب لحلها. أما من منظىز الحىلمة فإن السغبة في أداء ألثر اسحدامة وصعىبة الق ام بالحكم الساشد مسلز ا في قطاع الطاقة شكل ثحد ا لبيرا للس اس ين واملناد ن بالحىلمة على املدي الطى ل. لرلك جسعى هره الىزقة البحث ة إلى عسض الححد ات التي ثىاجه حىلمة النظام الطاقىي مع ثحد د العىامل التي جساعد أو جع ق ثقدم البلدان هحى اقحصاد ات منخفضة الكسبىن. لما جعسض ثجسبة ثحىل الطاقة في أملاه ا باعحبازها ثجسبة زائدة ثىاجه العد د من الححد ات في الىقد الري جسعى ف ه إلى جعز ز املصادز الطاقى ة املحجددة. ح ث ثدزك أملاه ا أن الاهخشاز السس ع للطاقة املحجددة عنصس حاسم في من أجل ثقل ل آثاز جغير املناخ وضمان امدادات طاقى ة مسحدامة. الكلمات املفتاحية: حىلمة الطاقة ثحىل الطاقة ألامن الطاقىي الاقحصاد ات منخفضة الكسبىن أملاه ا...

2 Les politiques d utilisation des ressources énergétiques: Entre les exigences du 1. Introduction 1.1 background Today s societies confront significant challenges with regard to legacy energy systems. These systems have deep societal significance, are entrenched in diverse social, economic, and political arrangements, and have evolved considerable complexity over many decades. They also need to undergo significant change. Interdependent physical and social infrastructure systems are increasingly vulnerable to the threat of climate change and need to be adapted to create greater resilience. 1 The challenges for countries are presumed. however, when it comes to making an energy transition. The transformation will require more than merely technological innovations and engineering solutions. It will also be necessary to find a way to overcome major differences in national energy endowments, economic interests, and sovereignty concerns. 2 Few communities worldwide currently have the capacity to confront these challenges and govern the transformation of complex legacy systems towards improved long-term outcomes. 3 Energy transition's implementation presents significant governance challenges. It is a public matter that requires cooperation and coordination from various public and private actors, as well as top-down decision-making. It also comprises diverse political levels and jurisdictions as well as interest groups, cooperatives, alliances, banks, and individuals. While Energiewende is very much a German policy designed for a German political context, there are still lessons to Algeria and any country considering an energy transition for that matter; can learn from the challenges Germany has faced in developing a governance strategy to go where no one has gone before: overhauling the modern electricity system as we know it to make the German power grid more clean, efficient, resilient, and dynamic. Many of the governance challenges associated with Energiewende stem from its long-term nature and dependence on variables that are not entirely within the government s control. Based on these previous debates, this study asks the following questions: What do these energy transitions look like? and how to manage the governance of energy transition? What are the typical challenges to energy governance? How can democratic structures be established to govern the Germen Energiewende? Germany s successes and challenges can be valuable lessons for other countries that want to switch to a renewable-based electricity system. 1.2 Study Importance Increasing the efficiency by which energy is extracted or captured, converted, and utilized not only requires the improvement of current technology and the development of new transformative ones, but also paying much more attention to improving coherent governance of energy efficiency institutions. There is a growing literature examining energy governance that recognises the importance of actors, institutions, and processes. But there has been a more limited focus on the issue from the perspective of diverse challenges including security, climate change and environmental sustainability. In this paper, we explore how the challenges could reduce the sensitivity towards energy governance. and provide relevant information that will help develop comprehensive and effective governance mechanisms.

3 Les politiques d utilisation des ressources énergétiques: Entre les exigences du 1.3 Study Objectives The main objective of this paper is to explain key features of the energy governance and it will also assess whether energy governance works well in terms of transparency and accountability, effectiveness and coherence. The specific objectives are to: Describe the Theoretical Framework of energy transition and governance challenges; Examine the functioning of energy governance in practice; Analyse the overlaps, influence and effectiveness of energy governance; and Give recommendations regarding governance issues to take into account by Algeria. The rest of this study discusses according to the following plan: Section 02: provides an overview of energy governance and explains the main governance challenges for energy transition. Section 03: focuses on energy governance in practice, security of supply, and competitiveness Taking the case of Germany which has recently experienced a successful Energiewende order to implement its own energy transition. Section 04: conclusions and recommendations. 2. Framing and understanding governance challenges for energy transition In this section, we will outline transition theory and how it relates to energy system, and give an overview of the Energy governance. 2.1 Energy transition As we embark into the 21st Century, there is little doubt that humanity faces daunting energy-related challenges. Access to energy sources is becoming more expensive, there is an urgent need to de-carbonize our energy future and billions of people do not have access to even basic energy services. There is now increasing acknowledgment of the need for a transition to sustainable energy production and consumption patterns: what is needed is nothing short of an energy revolution. 4 Transitions refer to large-scale transformations within society or important subsystems, during which the structure of the societal system fundamentally changes. Examples are the demographic transition, transition from industrial to service economies, from extensive to intensive agriculture or from horse-and-carriage to car-mobility. A transition is the shift from a relative stable system (dynamic equilibrium) though a period of relatively rapid change during which the system reorganizes irreversibly into a new (stable) system again. Transitions have the following characteristics: 5 they concern large-scale technological, economical, ecological, socio-cultural and institutional developments that influence and reinforce each other they are long-term processes that take at least one generation there are interactions between different scale levels (niche, regime, landscape). Historical analysis of societal transitions suggests that transitions go through different stages. They argue that the nature and speed of change differs in each of the transition phases: In the pre-development phase the regime remains stable, although the social landscape slowly changes and there is increasing bottom-up innovation.

4 Les politiques d utilisation des ressources énergétiques: Entre les exigences du In the take-off phase the process of change gets under way and the state of the system and its regime begins to shift. In the acceleration phase structural changes take place visibly way through accumulation of socio-cultural, economic, ecological and institutional changes. During this phase there are collective learning processes, diffusion and institutionalisation processes. In the stabilisation phase the speed of societal change decreases and a new dynamic equilibrium is reached. During transitions there is non-linear change as a result of developments and events that reinforce each other. Each development within the whole set has different speed and magnitudes. It is therefore necessary to take into account different scale levels and their interference. But in the dimensions of system transition, we observe the following: 6 Technological change: The energy transition platforms has as one of it.s core trajectories the use of advanced technologies, but also the use of renewable energy sources can be viewed as a transition toward new technologies in the broader definition. Clearly, the transition policy approach facilitates a manifold of experiments, new efforts and local development in order to drive technological change, which is also one of the main tasks of the initiative. Industrial change: A key aspect of the policy approach is the creation of movement. within the various erected platforms, in which companies, governments, organisations, and civil group collaborate. This seems to drive also industrial change, as new opportunities for business are more easily identified, and can seep into the regime level. Policy change: Characteristic to the transition policy is that it is an initiative from the government to achieve long-term, structural change. This means that there is a clear shift in the level of ambition regarding the extent of change, as well as in the length of the policy.s time-horizon. Secondly, the policy stands for a more direct engagement of the government with the other stakeholders, which iteratively and interactively shapes the transition over the course of time. Social change: Also the dimension of social change has explicit attention in transition policy: civil engagement and the creation of acceptance of new technologies are key spearheads of the transition policy approach. In turn, the civil and governmental influence in shaping the transition policy and transition-paths of industry and technology in turn is considerable, and reflects the impact of social change on the societal level on development at the niche level. Transitions to cleaner, renewable energy are at the heart of policies in many countries. The focus on renewables has, if anything, become greater recently as uncertainty grows about the viability and acceptability of alternatives to achieve low-carbon growth, including nuclear power and carbon capture and storage. Recent research in Transitions Studies argues that transitions will not be a technological fix but will require some combination of economic, political, institutional and socio-cultural changes. Without doubt, these transitions must be guided by an ethics that brings together technology and sustainability. 7 The concept of energy transition is now widely used within energy studies and has been incorporated into the national energy policies of some countries. Although its implication of a change in conditions is clear enough, there is no consensus on a desired end state. 8 The transition toward the production of renewable energy through decentralised forms of governance has coincided with the empowerment of new actors, especially local actors.

5 Les politiques d utilisation des ressources énergétiques: Entre les exigences du 2.2 Energy governance Governance has become an increasingly fashionable term, used across multiple disciplines, including political science, law, public administration, economics, sociology, geography and history. The emergence of the focus on governance (especially as it relates to development) is linked in many ways to processes of neoliberalism and globalisation, which encompasses the global shift from the 1970s onwards to financial deregulation, trade liberalisation, and the consolidation of global production networks. 9 The World Bank defines governance as the traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised. This includes (a) the process by which governments are selected, monitored and replaced; (b) the capacity of the government to effectively formulate and implement sound policies; and (c) the respect of citizens and the state for the institutions that govern economic and social interactions among them. The literature includes numerous definitions of governance especially as it relates to development. 10 For the purpose of this assessment, we define governance as any of the myriad processes through which a group of people set and enforce the rules needed to enable that group to achieve desired outcomes. 11 Different modes of governance can be identified according to three dimensions. The politics dimension is about which actors are involved and the power relations that develop between them, in particular the balance between public and private actors in the policy-making process. The polity dimension is about the rules according to which those different actors interact, for instance in more or less hierarchical and institutionalised settings. The policy dimension, finally, pertains to the instruments that are used, for instance soft versus hard law, the presence or absence of sanctions, and fixed versus malleable norms. 12 Turning to the energy sector, energy governance refers to the actors, institutions and processes that shape how decisions are made about how to provide energy services. 13 It involves the actors connected to energy such as governments, NGOs, civil society groups, corporations, citizens, and public-private partnerships(ppps), as well as the institutions or rules according to which decisions are made and the processes of agenda-setting, negotiation, implementation, monitoring and enforcement of rules related to energy. 14 International Energy Agency (IEA), define energy governance as the combination of legislative frameworks and funding mechanisms, institutional arrangements, and coordination mechanisms, which work together to support implementation of energy efficiency strategies, policies and programs. 15

6 Les politiques d utilisation des ressources énergétiques: Entre les exigences du Figure 1 Energy efficiency governance areas and topics Energy Efficiency Governance Enabling Frameworks Institutional Arrangements Co-ordination Mechanisms Laws and decrees Strategies and action plans Funding mechanisms Implementing agencies Resourcing requirements Role of energy providers Stakeholder engagement Public-private sector cooperation International assistance Governmental coordination Targets Evaluation Source: International Energy Agency IEA, Energy efficiency governance handbook, Second Edition Paris. France, 2010, p8 The energy field consists of multifaceted issues, in light of this complexity and at times, conflicting norms and narratives, energy policy does not allow for simple governance, cooperation, or regulation. Pervasive problems such as corruption in the construction and delivery of energy infrastructure, operation of energy utilities and sale of services to consumers, and the prevalence of non-technical losses (theft) of energy by those who cannot afford it, or choose not to access energy services legally, have also been entry points for interest in issues of governance. These issues are tied up in domestic politics: promises related to electricity services are often high profile in electoral campaigning, and tolerance for theft and illegal access is often linked to efforts to secure political power, 16 that s why there is an emerging consensus that current energy governance is unsuited to addressing modern day challenges. 2.3 Key Energy Governance challenges Energy systems face serious challenges. These occur along the fronts of energy security, energy justice, low carbon energy transition and corruption. we in the following only briefly sketch these challenges in order to then conclude on why they clash with dominant structural attributes of energy systems.

7 Les politiques d utilisation des ressources énergétiques: Entre les exigences du Energy security The concept of energy security has been deepening in terms of geographic spread, timeframes, energy sources and the need to link energy security more closely with sustainability policies, While the deployment of renewable energy contributes to energy security through the diversification of resources, the penetration of very high shares of variable renewables such as wind and solar PV in the generation mix is a source of concern. 17 According to the New Policies of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the rich countries energy watchdog, global primary energy demand will be 36 % higher in 2035 than in Oil consumption is expected to rise by 18% and reach some 99 million barrels per day (mbd) in 2035, compared to less than 84 mbd today. Gas consumption will be up by 44% and stand at 4.5 tcm in 2035, up from 3.1trillion cubic meters in Almost the entire increment will come from non-oecd countries while energy demand in the OECD world is instead expected to plateau. Newly emerging, energy hungry Asian economies not only come with rising purchasing power, but also test models that rely on a more pronounced state backing, notably in upstream. An almost proverbial Chinese shopping spree in Africa and elsewhere has therefore become subject of extensive scholarly investigation and policy debate. Energy security challenges therefore arise on several fronts: a (liberal) market model under stress, being at least complemented if not replaced entirely by alternative models based on strong state intervention; supply security, i.e. the availability of energy resources for incumbent (OECD) consumers in a world characterized by rapidly emerging new ones; and those new (and mostly Asian) consumers claiming their fair share in available energy resources to fuel their growth and economic catch up process, thereby bringing back mercantilist approaches towards resource access. 19 A second energy security challenge is equally pressing: rapidly aging infrastructure. According to IEA projections, the total global capacity of retiring power plants amounts to 2000 giga watts(gw) until Two thirds of this loss occurs in coal, oil, and gas fired power plants, and most of that in OECD countries. 20 Nuclear capacity loss might even be higher than projected, due to recent decisions in many countries to put a moratorium on atomic energy, topped by a total phase out in Germany. This capacity needs to be replaced. For that energy policy should be taken into account in all foreign policy contexts to all countries Energy justice The comprehensive idea of environmental justice is linked to the notion of fragmented democracies, in order to achieve a better distribution of the benefits and costs of global social metabolism, focusing in a limitation of capital accumulation and concentration of power, as well as public participation and sensitiveness to cultural diversity in decisionmaking processes. From this pattern of decentralized economies/democracies oriented to environmental justice, it can be envisaged the horizon of a deep energy transition (Energiewende), not only regarding energy sources, but also energy governance. 21 On the demand-side, the global energy system is incredibly unjust, leaving billions of people without access to electricity or dependent on highly polluting traditional fuels for cooking and heating. Energy access was recently brought to the forefront of energy policy

8 Les politiques d utilisation des ressources énergétiques: Entre les exigences du mainly by the rises of newly emerging economies in developing Asia. 22 According to the International Energy Agency, in billion people lacked access to electricity, 85% of them in rural areas, and 1.2 billion will likely remain off-grid by The number of people relying on traditional biomass will rise from 2.7 billion today to 2.8 billion by The health consequences are monu- mental, and of epidemic proportions. Household air pollution from the inefficient use of biomass combusted in indoor stoves causes about 1.5 million premature deaths per year. 23 While energy poverty is largely a domestic issue, its wide-scale global prevalence, the potential for technological and institutional learning across borders and its importance to the success of a broader antipoverty agenda make this an important challenge for global governance. When energy poverty is mentioned, it tends to be couched within larger objectives. Thus, we link energy to quality of life and opportunities, and link access to energy with sustainable growth and we calls for increasing access to modern energy services as part of a larger package aimed at addressing climate change and achieving sustainable development Low carbon transition Another key challenge is energy transition. While principally describing a fundamental change in the quantity, quality, and structure of energy production and energy use, the term has now been normatively charged against the backdrop of climate change. Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are widely assumed to be the cause for a rise in temperature and its detrimental consequences, from rising sea levels to heavier droughts or loss of habitat. Despite growing efforts to curb them, energy related emissions are made responsible for about 70% of total GHG emissions in the years to come. In other words, energy production, consumption, and use need to be at the core of efforts to shift current emission patterns to more sustainable ones, i.e. a low carbon energy transition. In order to achieve the 450 ppm (ppm) goal, a CO2 concentration at which, it is believed, climate change can be stabilized at still sustainable levels, it will not be enough to cut or replace carbon heavy technologies by greener ones. By contrast, energy systems need to be fundamentally overhauled. It is believed that smart networks are the key to such an overhaul. Such networks would make participants both producers and consumers of energy; enable a highly efficient use of available energy; communicate individual energy choices to all other participants, allowing them to respond timely and intelligently; and make variable energy sources compete against each other. This would require transforming centralized energy systems, characterized by bulky converters and energy flowing one-way from producer to consumer, into highly decentralized arrangements. The policies and instruments regarding low-carbon development was broken down into three levels as shown in Fig. 2.

9 Les politiques d utilisation des ressources énergétiques: Entre les exigences du Figure 2 The low-carbon strategy, policy and instruments. Policy Instrument Strategy Low-Carbon Economy Energy conservation Developing new energy Reforestry Developing circular economy Industry restructuring Law and regulation Industry standard Finance and taxition Source: Nannan Wang, Yen-Chiang Chang, The development of policy instruments in supporting low-carbon governance in China, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, volume 35, 2014, P 128. Low carbon energy transition is a huge challenge provided that it is based on a veritable shift towards renewable energy sources, i.e. not only on making existing fossil based systems cleaner. Historically, mankind's energy use evolved from low quality and low content to high quality and high content energy fuels. This, and despite significant gains in energy efficiency and emissions reduction, has led to replacing biomass or wood by coal, eventually complemented by oil and gas. Evolution then came to a standstill since the mid-1970s, resulting in a strong reliance on carbon heavy fuels. Going back to comparably low energy content and quality fuels such as biomass will prove difficult, as it would imply reverting historical developments. 25 Low carbon energy transition is a huge challenge provided that it is based on a veritable shift towards renewable energy sources Domestic good governance and corruption Energy has been susceptible to a high degree of corruption and rent seeking because of the ease of bypassing normal channels of accountability, the concentration of fossil fuel deposits in countries that have not yet developed effective domestic institutions, and the tendency to deliver energy services through highly centralized large infrastructure projects. Consequently, energy related concerns have been critical to pushing domestic good governance concerns up the global governance agenda. It is important to recognize the importance of energy to global financial flows. In the mid-1990s, for example, oil and gas and power sector investments together accounted for about 40 per cent of export credit agency financing, which is the main mechanism through which governments support overseas investment and trade by their companies. In many cases these transactions involve dealing with governments that have direct ownership over energy resources, leaving enormous scope for rent seeking growing attention to energy and domestic governance owes a great deal to the activities of civil society groups that have played an important role in bringing instances of corruption to light, and institutionalizing

10 Les politiques d utilisation des ressources énergétiques: Entre les exigences du mechanisms such as disclosure-based regulatory tools Although this new impulse is yet to command the sort of global consensus at the multilateral level that marks many of the other objectives, it is included as an important new and growing area of concern for energy governance The governance of German Energy Transition Energiewende : Prospects and achievements Since Germany is breaking fresh ground in many aspects of its overall energy policy strategy, it is important to monitor this fundamental transition closely. The government has therefore established a process to monitor progress and to finetune measures where necessary. At the same time, the monitoring process Energy of the Future is designed to inform the public comprehensively about the restructuring of the energy system, to promote public participation and to increase acceptance of the reforms. 27 Although the term energy transition (or Energiewende in German) was only coined after the Fukushima accident in 2011, the redirection of German energy policy towards massive expansion of renewable energy and improved energy efficiency dates much further back. It has several roots: 28 a profound and continuous rejection of nuclear power plants by the majority of Germany s population, particularly since Tschernobyl, early commitments to ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets, and high acceptance for renewable energy technologies (including the willingness to pay for their initially higher costs) which a few ardent proponents in the German Parliament managed to translate into a viable support mechanism, the Renewable Energy Law ( EEG in German). Figure 3: The political process of the energy transition in Germany Construction of nuclear power plants in Germany 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Energy Policies Renewable Energy Policies 1 st phase-out decision Social Democrats/ Greens 1991: Feed-In Law Extention Christian Democrats Social Democrats 2 nd phase-out 2011 decision 00 Fukushima Christian Democrats/ Liberals Since 2000: Renewable Energy Source Act since2012 Christian Democrats Social Democrats 0% 100 % Solar roofs programme Solar roofs programme Source: Timo Kaphengst, Eike Karola Velten, Energy transition and behavioural change in rural areas The role of energy cooperatives, Working Paper no 60, the European Union s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration, April 2014, p10

11 Les politiques d utilisation des ressources énergétiques: Entre les exigences du The continuous support of the German population and the momentum of the emerging renewable energy sector contributed to a situation where first the decarbonisation targets and, after the Fukushima accident, also the phase-out of nuclear energy turned into crossparty consensus; government amended the energy concept to implement the decision to shut down all of Germany s nuclear power plants by Thereby, it reconfirmed the first phase-out decision of 2000 which had been rolled back in The costs for the feed-in tariffs paid out to producers of renewable energy are recovered through a levy on electricity prices paid by all consumers (with some exceptions for high energy users in industry). The financial incentives created by this legal framework led to an unprecedented boost in decentralised renewable capacities in Germany since 2000, the largest share of which is owned by private investors, farmers and, increasingly, energy cooperatives. On average, the expansion has been achieved at lower costs per unit compared to quota systems because the investor s risk and transaction costs are relatively low, leading to lower financing costs The Domestic Context : Germany is Europe s largest economy, accounting for about one-fifth of the European Union s combined gross domestic product and greenhouse gas emissions in Germany, therefore, has a large responsibility for reducing emissions. The German Energiewende, which is in part a response to climate change concerns, calls for a farreaching transformation of Germany s energy system, from one dominated by nuclear energy and imports of fossil fuels to one based heavily on renewable energy. In addition, there are goals to dramatically improve energy efficiency. 31 Germany s ambitious energy goals include a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40% by 2020 and by at least 80% by 2050, and a decrease in primary energy consumption by 20% by 2020 and by 50% by 2050 (base year 2008). The proportion of energy consumption covered by renewables is to rise to 30% by 2030 and to 60% by Figure 3: Strengthening a sustainable energy supply in Germany Source: Federal Statistical Office,

12 Les politiques d utilisation des ressources énergétiques: Entre les exigences du Between 1990 and 2013 the share of renewable energy in final energy consumption rose from 2 % to 12.3 %. If development continues as in the last five years the 2020 target will be more than achieved. Figure 3: Resource conservation in Germany Source: Federal Statistical Office, Energy productivity increased by 45.4 % in Germany between 1990 and 2013, the increase in productivity may signal a more efficient use of energy, but only corresponds to a conservative decrease in primary energy consumption of 6.7 % by The savings from efficiency in-creases are, on the whole, compensated by economic growth of 35.7 %. Continuation of the average development over the last five years will not be sufficient in terms of energy productivity, and even less in terms of primary energy consumption (no statistically significant trend), to achieve the defined targets by Basically, Germany is faced with a dramatic challenge one that will require sweeping transformations in energy production systems, production technologies and processes, transportation structures, urban planning, construction, agriculture, and even lifestyles. Essentially every sector will be touched by the need to increase efficiency and shift energy sources. There will be a need for a considerable amount of new infrastructure wind parks, geothermal facilities, biomass plants, photovoltaic installations, distribution grids and high-voltage electricity grids, electricity storage systems, and smart grid technologies. While the transition will afford many new opportunities, it will also bring with it many hurdles that will need to be overcome some of these will be technical, others will be political, economic, or social The government structure The Energiewende in Germany needs to be reflected against the energy and climate change policies of the European Union. The EU s energy and climate chance policy

13 Les politiques d utilisation des ressources énergétiques: Entre les exigences du decisions have a strong impact on national energy policy decisions. On the one hand this indicates a European consensus to strive for a low-carbon economy, and on the other hand it suggests increasing interference by EU level actors when Germany aims to realize its overall more ambitious national targets. 34 The political decisions of the summer of 2011, to put a 2022 date for the final shut down of nuclear energy and to push forward with renewable energy development, have made the Energiewende a central policy goal. It has led to the restructuring of ministries, with renewable energy responsibilities being shifted from the Ministry of the Environment to the renamed Federal Ministry of Economy and Energy. The renamed Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building, and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) has maintained competences tied to climate change and has also become responsible for urban planning and building. In relation to the electricity sector, significant attention has been given to the reform of the feed-in tariff and the shift to a direct marketing system. 35 In addition to this, the governance of the Energiewende becomes more complex due to Germany s federalism. Germany s sixteen states (Bundesländer) have an important autonomy when it comes to state support schemes, regulations for construction, renewable energy heating and land-use planning. As all Länder have their own agenda, they make varying use of their political instruments and can thus cause inconsistencies with the federal goals for the Energiewende. For instance, the southern states of Baden- Württemberg and Bayern want to increase their self-supply with renewable energy. At the same time many northern states like Brandenburg, Schleswig-Holstein or Mecklenburg- Vorpommern would like to benefit from their good conditions for wind energy and supply the more industrialized southern states with renewable energy. If both continued it would create significant overcapacities. Such conflicting interests constrain a coherent national concept for the Energiewende. However, recently the Länder government agreed to improve cooperation and to transfer more planning competencies to the federal level The sustainable energy coalition The sustainable energy coalition argues that the current costs of the Energiewende have to be seen as long-term investments that will pay off in the light of rising energy prices and decreasing costs for renewable energy equipment. Furthermore, some parties and politicians, underline that today s prices for conventional energy neglect the large external costs from environmental damages or nuclear waste. If these costs would be included in current balances, renewable energy costs would already be competitive. They also stress the massive subsidies for nuclear, coal and large parts of other fossil fuels that have created the present and path dependency. Accordingly, they call for equal support to transform energy systems towards renewable energy. 37 The Government set up indicators and sustainability goals for these key issues to avoid the impression that its strategy is merely a list of good intensions. This sustainable strategy was the first attempt by the German Federal Government to define a normative quantitative sustainable order for Germany. Table 1 shows the time frame defined by the German Federal Government for the single interim values and the target values of the sustainability indicators:

14 Les politiques d utilisation des ressources énergétiques: Entre les exigences du Table 1: Sustainability energy indicators for Germany Sustainability indicators and their targets for the German energy sector 1.Energy & raw materials productivity (1994 = 100) Energy Raw materials Emissions of the six greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol (1990 = 100) 3.Proportion of energy consumption from renewable energy In % primary energy 2 4 consumption In % electricity consumption Mobility transport intensity 1999 = 100 Passenger traffic Goods traffic Air quality, 1990 = 100 Air quality Nox SO CO Dust NMVOC NH Employment Employment rate in % Source: Holger Schlör, Wolfgang Fischer, Jürgen-Friedrich Hake, Methods of measuring sustainable development of the German energy sector, Applied Energy Journal, volume 101, 2013, P 174. Table01 shows that the Government has not set a consistent time frame for all indicators. the sustainability measuring method are adapted to the different time frames and calculated the sustainability of the single indicators for the given periods set by the German Government. The following calculations are based on estimates of how the individual indicators will develop in the future under current conditions. The development in the energy sector can also be described with the help of these indicators. The indicators enable us to measure recent developments and compare them with the normative goals of the German Federal Government. Government is currently more focused on environmental and economic issues than on social issues in the energy sector. The strategy will be revised in 2012 by the German Government and the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE). It remains to be seen whether the revision process will devote more attention to the social aspects of the energy sector Governance challenges of the Germen Energiewende Until shortly after the Fukushima nuclear crisis, little attention was paid in Germany to how the Energiewende should be managed. The main focus was on the development of

15 Les politiques d utilisation des ressources énergétiques: Entre les exigences du wind parks and photovoltaics. Much of the development was driven by local, small-scale investors and there was also little planning or co-ordination among regions or sectors. Over time, the pace of building renewable energy capacities far exceeded the pace of building the electricity grid infrastructure. As the Energiewende reaches a new stage in its development, much greater attention will need to be paid to governing the Energiewende. This does not mean that there should be an Energiewende plan formulated in the way that was done in former socialist economies. However, it does mean that greater attention must be paid to how goals are to be met, how federal, state, and local governments coordinate their activities, and to the views of the public. Creativity, flexibility, and competition should be encouraged, for without it, the Energiewende is likely to fail. At the same time, however, information exchange, dialogue, constructive criticism, support, and monitoring will be necessary to ensure a smooth transition and it will in all likelihood be neither easy nor inexpensive. Flexibility is necessary for shifting course and taking into account new technological and social developments. The coordination of goals, plans, and instruments will be necessary to minimize redundancies and costs. 39 An energy transition of the kind envisioned will also require new approaches to energy governance. A transformation on the scale being planned cannot happen without considerable degrees of co-ordination across different levels of government within Germany s federal structure as well as between Germany, its neighbors, and the European Union. Greater co-ordination will also be needed to address developments in different sectors, to be able to warn when problems are likely to occur, and to address these problems if they do occur. Finally, without greater attention to the concerns of the public and the fair distribution of costs and burdens, the Energiewende will find itself facing opposition Obstacles to the good governance of the Energiewende There are many challenges put severe constraints on the efficient and effective governance of the Energiewende: 40 Various public and private actors advocate their own lines of argument making the entire process very confusing and non-transparent. Prominent examples are the debate about the costs of the different sources of energy or the pretended economic damages of the Energiewende The confusion about facts and myths hinders clear political decisions and it reduces the public support and therefore the legitimacy of the Energiewende. Moreover, the unclear jurisdictions and, related to this, the lack of accountability, pose important problems to planning and implementation. Most of the investments in renewables were made on the local level all over Germany. Contrary to the old centralized energy system with large nuclear and coal power plants, the new system becomes increasingly decentralized and therefore it requires an adapted electricity grid. The four large grid providers as well as political planning failed to do so in a timely manner. the sustainable energy coalition calls for a decentralized system. In addition to this, coordination has long been constrained by the Länder and municipalities. They are most often responsible for the approval procedures for the grid expansion and potential delays of larger projects with incoherent decisions. increasing costs of renewable energy and their components is another important governance challenge. An increasing share of renewable electricity is made responsible to cause massive investments in the grid, even though a recent study shows that it might be overestimated. effective market design that takes into account the volatility of renewable energy. Longer periods of low sunshine and low wind energy require large back-up

16 Les politiques d utilisation des ressources énergétiques: Entre les exigences du capacities of approximately 80 GW. Therefore flexible sources of energy, a better load management, as well as more storage options are necessary to satisfy the peak energy demand in the absence of sun and wind. Unforeseeable changes on the international markets relate to the falling prices for CO2 certificates, the shale gas revolution in the USA, and the low costs for coal, the Energiewende in Germany is in danger as more coal-fired power plants might be constructed. Political actors on the European and/or German level were not able to find coordinated political responses to these shocks and therefore the costcompetitiveness of renewables decreased while CO2 emissions from coal rise again. This inability to act highlights the external vulnerability of the German Energiewende in a globalized and interdependent world The main components of good governance for the German Energiewende The transition of the whole energy sector in an industrialized country like Germany is a complex issue which affects many sectors, interests of companies, citizens and residents, as well as politicians. Good governance of such a complex transition should comprise the following main components: Clear definition of mid-term and long-term goals on a federal and state level, which are well defined and regularly monitored. Because of the dynamics of the process, full flexibility in all areas is always necessary. The overall framework, including fixed long-term goals, should not be changed. 2. Clear allocation of responsibilities to one institution instead of a division of tasks to many different agents with diverse interests. If one institution is responsible for the Energiewende, the transformation process can certainly be managed more efficiently. 3. Transparency. Unbiased and objective information is essential in all changes of such powerful processes. This information should be provided by the government, neutral media and institutes, and be as broad as possible for all different actors and the mass-market. 4. Participation. All relevant agents and actors as well as citizens should be able to participate at all times - not only in concrete energy projects, but should also get the chance to participate actively in relevant processes. Various discussion forums, especially those with citizen involvement, as well as the attempts to clarify jurisdiction and to centralize planning, can serve as important catalyzers for the Energiewende. 5. Coordination. The complex process encompasses many different actions in all different areas. Comprehensive coordination is obligatory. Good governance which comprises the most important portions of the complex process can lead to much more efficient and effective progress of the Energiewende. 5. Conclusions and Recommendations The main conclusions and recommendations are presented below: 5.1. Conclusion based on the findings of this paper, we conclude that energy system transition is a complex techno-economic and social long term change process in which governance efforts can play an important role. Comprehensive and effective Energy governance is needed urgently. Improved energy governance is a critical response to the pressing climate change, economic development and energy security challenges facing many countries. Governments can only hope to achieve the required scale and timing of energy efficiency improvements if robust and effective energy efficiency governance systems are

17 Les politiques d utilisation des ressources énergétiques: Entre les exigences du put in place. Successful Energy governance policy outcomes are more likely if an effective system of Energy governance is established. From the laws and decrees that set policy to the institutional arrangements for implementing policy and the evaluation mechanisms to track policy progress, Energy governance is a complex but critical part of national energy efforts. Experience of Germany has shown that energy governance policies succeed to deliver their full potential because of sufficient attention to the governance systems supporting implementation. Of course Germany s clean energy revolution hasn t come without its challenges, and what works within one national context won t necessarily work in another. But as Algeria and other countries consider their strategies to expand renewables and energy efficiency, it s important that they learn from the global leaders in this space. Germany is certainly one of those clean energy leaders to watch Recommendations In order to ensure good governance into the direction of a safe and secure energy transition, multiple things should be taken into consideration: References Energy governance should comprise clear long-term goals, a distinct allocation of responsibilities to one institution, more and better participation processes, and full transparency as well as better cooperation. Managing the energy transition requires considering the multi-level characteristic of decision-making processes in the area. All countries embarking on energy transitions will have to deal with the fundamental social, political and economic issues of determining and distributing costs. An important aspect of governance for system transition is cooperation and a mutual engagement of public and private actors and stakeholders municipalities can be called key actors of renewable energy governance if they play a very important role, compared to other state and private actors in this policy field. Stimulate reporting of interactions between the policy areas of emission reduction, renewables and energy efficiency Establish closer contacts with network organisations and regional supranational energy market coordination mechanisms as emerging axes of key developments in future energy markets. 1 Wilbanks, T.,Bilello,D.,Schmalzer,D.,&Scott,M. Climate change and energy supply and use. Technical report to the US Department of Energy in support of the national climate assessment. Oak Ridge, TN: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Bert Droste-Franke. Martin Carrier and Others. Improving Energy Decisions: Towards Better Scientific Policy Advice for a Safe and Secure Future Energy System, Ethics of Science and Technology Assessment, volume 42, Springer International Publishing, Switzerland, 2015, p193

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