Germany has set itself the ambitious strategic goal of completely switching to renewable energy sources, Johann Saathoff, Parliamentary State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, said at a seminar on the Pan-Asia Power Grid Initiative (PAGI), which was held as part of the 59th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Report informs.
"We are facing a major challenge: a radical modernization of the power grid. Today, the share of renewable energy in Germany's energy mix already exceeds 60%, and we strive to increase this figure to 100%," Saathoff said.
He noted that the lack of sufficiently flexible infrastructure leads to significant economic costs: the state spends approximately €3 billion annually on rerouting energy flows.
"The crux of the problem is that we are forced to shut down, for example, offshore wind farms in the north when consumers in the south of the country need electricity. To ensure these supplies, we have to launch gas-fired generating capacity and redistribute power flows. All these additional costs are ultimately borne by end consumers," the ministry's state secretary explained.
Saathoff noted that this example clearly demonstrates how urgent the issue of upgrading energy infrastructure is both within Germany and globally.