Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
October 11, 2012, Environment Minister Peter Altmaier outlined plans to
initiate a cap on the accumulated installed generation capacities for feed-in
tarifs related to wind power and biomass. he intention of this is to keep
market expansion in check in order to ensure suicient grid enhancement
simultaneously takes place to preserve grid integrity.
Finally, there is a high degree of uncertainty regarding how the general
public will react to proliferate arrays of ofshore wind turbines. here have
already been concerns over aesthetic seascape impairment and charges that
the developments are damaging the habitat of the harbor porpoise.
It is apparent that wind power in Germany is set to enjoy an extended
period of capacity expansion. However, the cost of providing suitable infra-
structure to support expansion, the technological (and economic) challenges
associated with an ever-expanding contribution from wind power and the
possibility of ampliied public opposition as wind power moves from com-
munity investment projects to big business suggest that the path of wind
power development will not be as smooth as it was in the past. As the quote
at the beginning of this chapter attributed to German Chancellor Angela
Merkel emphasizes, given the global imperative to facilitate a rapid transition
away from carbon-based energy systems, the will to change clearly exists in
Germany; the question is, can the transition be sustained at a suitable pace?
NOTES
1. Extracted from http://yourlocalsecurity.com/blog/2011/08/15/inspiration-
f rom-the-100-most-powerful-women-in-the-world/.
2. Mendonca, Miguel, David Jacobs, and Benjamin Sovacool. 2009.
Powering the
Green Economy: he Feed-in Tarif Handbook
. Oxford: Earthscan.
3. Bruns, Elke, and Dorte Ohlhorst. 2011. “Wind Power Generation in
Germany: Transdisciplinary View on the Innovation Biography.”
Journal of
Transdisciplinary Environmental Studies
10 (1): 45-67.
4. Ibid.
5. Fischer, Sebastian, Florian Gathmann, Anna Riemann, and Tijs van den Boomen. 2011.
“Resistance Mounts to Germany's Ambitious Renewable Energy Plans.”
Spiegel
, April
13. www.spiegel.de/international/germany/green-headache-resistance-mounts-to-
germany-s-ambitious-renewable-energy-plans-a-756836.html.
6. Source: German Wind Energy Association. www.wind-energie.de/en/infocenter/
statistiken/print?nid=1596.
7. Bruns, Elke, and Dorte Ohlhorst. 2011. “Wind Power Generation in Germany:
Transdisciplinary View on the Innovation Biography.”
Journal of Transdisciplinary
Environmental Studies
10 (1): 45-67.
8.
Wüstenhagen, Rolf, and Michael Bilharz. 2006. “Green Energy Market Development
in Germany: Efective Public Policy and Emerging Customer Demand.”
Energy Policy
34 (13): 1681-1696.
