Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
technologies, such as wind power. It is no coincidence that wind power
installations in Germany took of in 1998. In fact, during the seven years
that the SPD—Green Party alliance governed Germany, total installed wind
power capacity grew from 2,875 MW to 18,428 MW. Approximately 50%
of all wind power capacity installed in Germany up until 2012 was installed
during the period of SPD-Green Party rule.
In the 2005 election, no party received enough votes to form a govern-
ment; in the ensuing negotiations, a grand coalition between the CDU/
CSU and SPD was formed under the leadership of the CDU's Angela Merkel.
Merkel has a doctorate in quantum chemistry and was the Minister for the
Environment and Nuclear Safety in 1994 under Helmut Kohl's adminis-
tration. During her tenure as minister, she took the lead in designing the
nation's strategy for phasing out nuclear power. When she became chancel-
lor, the only adjustment she enacted in regard to nuclear power was to initi-
ate a slowdown of the phase-out in order to permit a more orderly and less
economically disruptive transition. Ideology aside, enacting any sort of major
deviation from existing in energy policy during the irst term of Merkel's ten-
ure in power would have been diicult given the need to hold the grand coali-
tion together. Similarly, after the 2009 elections when Merkel returned to
power as head of a CDU-CSU-FDP coalition, the need for policy temperance
to appease disparate political interests prevented any major deviation from
the ongoing strategy of phasing out nuclear power and bolstering renewable
energy capacity. Moreover, public will is so strongly in favor of such a transi-
tion that major energy policy change is improbable.
Policymaking through consensus has been evident in all governing
administrations since the early 1990s. It is typical for policies in Germany
to be developed through an inclusive consultative process involving numer-
ous stakeholder groups. For example, the ofshore wind power foundation
that was launched in 2005 to study ofshore wind power difusion enlisted
the participation of numerous stakeholder groups including oicials from
the Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety,
state government oicials, representatives from key German manufacturers,
wind energy interest groups, environmental associations, and major energy
suppliers.
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Even in the preparation of government studies, attempts are
made to comprehensively consult with afected stakeholders. For example,
a study commissioned in 2005 to investigate grid expansion requirements
to support further wind power difusion was prepared under the guidance
of the Institute of Energy Economics, the German Wind Energy Institute,
the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology,
the Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety,
the Ministry of Economics and Technology, state planning agencies, and a
