Not only CSU boss Söder was concerned that electricity prices in Germany would rise when the last nuclear power plants went offline. But the opposite has been the case so far, reports the Federal Network Agency.
A month after the last German nuclear power plants were shut down, the Federal Network Agency sees hardly any effects on the electricity market. There were no price increases on the stock exchange; on the contrary, electricity had even become cheaper, said the agency’s vice president, Barbie Kornelia Haller Bavarian Radio (BR).
“The impact is extremely small,” she noted. According to Haller, the loss of German nuclear power is obviously being overshadowed by other effects. The proportion of renewable energies increases in spring.
Less power consumption and replacement with renewables
A similar statement was made in BR Bruno Burger from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE). Compared to the total electricity production in Germany and Europe, the effect of the three nuclear reactors that were shut down in April is so small that it is difficult to see. The three nuclear power plants would have produced around 30 terawatt hours a year, Burger calculated. A third of that could be saved this year compared to last year, because as the crisis in nuclear power in France subsided, not as much electricity had to be exported there.
According to Burger’s forecast, the remaining 20 terawatt hours will be completely replaced by renewable energies in the course of this year, half each through the addition of photovoltaics and wind energy. It was similar with the previous nuclear shutdowns.
Greens with a message to Söder
Green parliamentary group leader Britta Haßelmann sees this as refuting CSU boss Markus Söder, who had spoken of the threat of massive price increases with regard to the nuclear shutdowns. Now it is clear that there is no impact on the price or on the security of supply, Haßelmann wrote on Twitter. The deputy leader of the Greens, Katharina Dröge, also said: “I’m afraid Markus Söder has to be very strong now.”