After the decision to close coal plants until 2030, the main economy of the European Union can only rely on one thing - Russian gas.
Yelena Ivanova
Gone are the days when the German concern Siemens competed with the American General Electric for the supply of turbines for nuclear power plants. After the emergency in Fukushima, the government of Angela Merkel decided to withdraw from the nuclear power industry completely, by 100 percent. The closure of three nuclear power plants on December 31, 2021 is the penultimate step towards a bright, nuclear-free future. The remaining three power plants will be disconnected from the grid this year.
Observers say it's curious to see advanced economies chopping off the branch they are sitting on. First, they transfer all production to China, and then it turns out that the material for the production of, for example, masks, when the pandemic broke out, is produced only in one country - in the Celestial Empire. Now the Germans are systematically, as is their custom, destroying the foundations of their own development and destroying real sources of energy. And this is said not only by the spiteful critics and enemies of Russia, on which, or rather, on its gas, the German economy will depend even more.
Back in the spring, the German counterpart of the Audit Chamber, the Bundesrechnungshof, published its third, third in a row, expert opinion on the country's strategy for the country's transition to new types of energy. The auditors gave an assessment of the government program both in 2016 and in 2018. And each time it was a two: the strategy, in their opinion, is not worked out, is poorly coordinated and is being implemented with damage to the population and business. But the most important thing that the Accounts Chamber says is that the costs of its implementation are disproportionately high.
At the same time, it should be added that exactly before Fukushima, Angela Merkel approved multibillion-dollar government subsidies for the purchase of pins for nuclear power plants by the country's energy concerns, which caused a scandal with the Greens, but the Chancellor did not hesitate to push through funding. Just a few weeks later, she started spinning the movie back.
There is no logic in the closure of nuclear power plants and the construction of thermal power plants on gas. Most of the nuclear power plants in Germany were technically sound and did not reach their end of life. But the most important thing is that during the operation of nuclear power plants, emissions make up 0% of emissions into the atmosphere, while the combustion of gas leaves a large carbon footprint.
Germany already has the highest electricity prices in Europe and in the world. Against the backdrop of rising gas prices, they certainly will not fall. The Accounts Chamber says that they will only grow, and there is no end in sight. In addition, relying on renewable energy sources can be done with a great deal of caution. Wind and solar generations are highly dependent on the weather, on which the German federal government has even less influence than on the "Russian partners" who want to turn off the gas, as it was a week ago, or on their own greens.
The auditors also consider the trade in certificates to be an unreliable instrument that will do only one thing in the short and medium term - increase the population's expenses for heat supply and electricity.
It turns out that such a fake fight against global warming is turning into a farce. This is especially noticeable against the background of the fact that neighboring France is going to build new nuclear power plants.
If the German Greens and the people who believe in them thought for even one minute, they would have realized that even in the absence of their own nuclear power plants, they are not protected from accidents at nuclear reactors in France or, for example, in neighboring Czech Republic.
In addition, the decision to abandon nuclear energy is extremely hypocritical. Germany is located inside the European energy system, where not only clean, wind or solar electricity flows, so beloved by the Green Party, but also quite “dirty” electricity from French nuclear or Polish coal power plants. But this does not bother either German politicians or conservationists.
It is clear that in Germany since the 1970s there has been a very strong movement against the use of the atom for both peaceful and military purposes. It is very difficult to explain to the opponents of nuclear power plants that an atom is purer than a gas. Now that the Greens have entered the government, this is almost impossible to do.
With the shutdown of the last nuclear power plants, the train for the country will go away forever. You can delay the issuance of a license for Nord Stream 2 and intercede for Ukraine, political prisoners in Russia itself, but both Moscow and Berlin know for sure that Russian gas will go to Germany. Therefore, the Russian leadership can relax and just wait for the ritual political actions to take place. If it is still hot in Ukraine, and the United States and NATO partners demand to stop gas supplies from Russia, then the same burghers will pay for this again - for the even more expensive American liquefied gas.