Smart meters: Long wait + Norway: Energy transition vs. human rights + COP Troika: Fossil plans of the hosts

Dear reader,

Germany has passed the million mark for smart meters. What sounds like a success story is not: Germany is lagging behind all the Baltic and Scandinavian countries as well as Italy, Spain and France when it comes to this key technology. Consumers have to expect longer waiting times, and installation is being hindered on several levels. Malte Kreutzfeldt has analyzed the reasons.

The energy transition is also a challenge in Norway. The dispute between the indigenous Sámi and the wind power operator Nordic Wind on the Fosen peninsula is an example of conflicting goals. Two planned wind turbines violate the human rights of the indigenous community, which breeds reindeer there. Jane Tversted and Martin Zähringer looked at how this land use conflict is progressing.

Today’s news includes how many coal ships can be replaced by a single ship with solar panels, why electricity generation from coal is nevertheless increasing, and how the COP Troika nations are expanding oil and gas production instead of abandoning it. Worrying are also the developments after the storms in Spain and the latest Lancet report. What gives hope, however, is that a strong majority of employees in Germany continue to support the energy transition.

Have an exciting read!

Your
Lukas Bayer

Smart meters: Why many German homeowners will have to wait a long time for them

In Germany, a smart meter in the meter box is still a rare sight.

By

Malte Kreutzfeldt

It sounds like a success story: The installation of so-called smart meters in Germany is believed to have passed the million mark, the German Economy Ministry (BMWK) confirmed to Table.Briefings on Wednesday. This means that the number of these devices has roughly quadrupled in the last two years. However, the figure also shows how far Germany is lagging behind in this technology, which is crucial for the energy transition and combines a digital electricity meter with a data connection: Of the approximately 50 million power connections in Germany, only two percent have been converted. By contrast, smart meters are now used almost exclusively in many other European countries, including all Scandinavian and Baltic States as well as Italy, Spain and France.

Many utilities have warned in recent days that the smart meter rollout in Germany will probably progress only slowly in the future. A current draft amendment to the Energy Industry Act plans to make it mandatory for fewer connections and make optional use more difficult and expensive. Until now, the plan was to make smart meters mandatory by next year if a solar system with more than seven kilowatts of power is operated or more than 6,000 kWh is consumed annually; this is the case for most owners of heat pumps and electric cars. If the draft law is implemented without changes, this requirement would be raised to 10,000 kilowatt-hours.

The situation will be even harder for consumers who voluntarily want to install a smart meter – for example, to take advantage of a dynamic electricity tariff. On the one hand, the installation costs are set to rise sharply: From 30 to up to 100 euros. In addition, additional costs of up to 30 euros per year may be charged. In many cases, this could exceed the potential savings in electricity costs, meaning that the new meters would no longer be economically viable for customers.

Right to voluntary installation is undermined

Secondly, obtaining such a meter will become much more difficult. The planned changes would severely restrict the legal right to this, which will apply to all customers next year. The draft stipulates that grid operators do not have to comply if this would jeopardize the implementation of installation in mandatory cases. The draft leaves open to what extent grid operators will have to prove this; in practice, the right to voluntary installation will likely be largely undermined.

Yet smart meters are actually considered a key prerequisite for the success of the energy transition. They consist of a digital electricity meter in conjunction with a so-called gateway, through which consumption data can be transmitted to the utility provider every quarter of an hour. This allows the use of flexible electricity tariffs, where consumers pay less when electricity is abundant and cheap on the electricity exchange, and more when it is scarce and expensive. The aim is to better align demand with supply, which helps to better use generation peaks and reduce the need for reserve power plants or storage facilities.

To achieve this, all electricity providers must offer at least one dynamic tariff as of next year. However, only a fraction of consumers will be able to use them. Providers such as Tibber or Octopus Energy, which offer such models, have reacted with outrage to the planned change. “If we slow down the rollout now, we will exclude a large proportion of people from truly participating in the energy transition,” says Bastian Gierull, CEO of Octopus Germany. He criticizes that such last-minute changes endanger the investment security of modern energy providers. Martin Lauenburg, CEO of Tibber Germany, considers the planned changes “socially unjust” and detrimental to acceptance. “In our Scandinavian home markets, we see how broad coverage of smart metering systems promotes innovative business models revolving around flexibility.”

Many German devices more complicated than necessary

The German Association of the New Energy Industry, representing many providers, has also sharply criticized the government’s plans. “The higher costs now planned for users of smart meters will further slow down digitalization and increase the costs for renewable energy systems,” explains Managing Director Roland Busch. The association criticizes that devices required in Germany are far too complicated for many applications. What is needed are “smart meters light” that do nothing more than “transmit measurements every 15 minutes,” says Busch.

It is precisely these simple smart meters that most other European countries have been using to date. Germany, on the other hand, has opted for more complex technology that also allows for external control. For instance, this ensures that grid operators can switch off solar systems remotely if there is too much electricity in the grid. Or that the power supply for heat pumps or EV charging can be temporarily throttled when electricity is particularly scarce.

This is extremely important for stable and affordable power generation. However, a data connection that controls the power supply requires significantly higher security standards than one that only transmits data to the supplier. For this reason, the data connection to the smart meter is usually encrypted via a dedicated mobile phone connection. Simple Internet transmission via WLAN or Powerline is not permitted. Moreover, all gateways must be certified by the Federal Office for Information Security. This leads to a limited supply with correspondingly higher prices; the industry speaks of an “oligopoly.”

Ministry: Current prices do not cover costs

A fundamental change is not in sight; however, some points of the draft law are currently being discussed as part of the consultation process with the federal states and associations. However, according to a BMWK spokesperson, “details from the ongoing consultation process and the possible solutions being discussed” cannot be disclosed. The ministry referred to the government’s latest digitization report to justify the planned changes. The report found that the previously planned cost caps would not cover the actual costs of grid operators. It also calls for the smart meter rollout to be “primarily system-oriented” – which means prioritizing connections with high electricity consumption.

If the responsible grid operator refuses to install the system, providers such as Octopus or 1Komma5Grad sometimes take care of it. But even in this case, the limited capacity means that this is currently only done for customers who also use the same provider’s solar system or heat pump. In most cases, it will probably be many years before ordinary electricity customers can also benefit from dynamic tariffs.

Norway: How the energy transition clashes with human rights

Reindeer herding is a Sámi tradition. But this tradition is being threatened by the energy transition.

European companies are keen to invest in wind energy projects in Norway. The largest project with six wind turbines is located on the Fosen peninsula. But there is a dispute here. Two of the turbines violate the human rights of the indigenous Sámi, who breed reindeer in the area. While the Sámi are still waiting for alternative pastures, Swiss-owned Nordic Wind is already considering the construction of additional turbines on the Indre Fosen peninsula.

By 2024, Norway has built 65 wind farms with 1,392 turbines and a total output of 16,923-gigawatt hours. More are underway. However, in some areas, the conflict between concessions and reindeer pastures is getting in the way of expansion. The Fosen case is an example of this. It has taken the Norwegian land use conflict between the Sámi and the state to a new level and could impact other projects with foreign participation. This shows that even in Europe, achieving a balance between the interests of society as a whole in expanding renewable energy and the social and economic interests of the people affected in a region is complex.

What the Fosen case is about

Two wind farms on Sámi reindeer pastures were approved on the Fosen peninsula in 2013: the Roan wind farm with 71 wind turbines (255.6 gigawatts) and the Storheia wind farm (288 gigawatts). Roan went into operation in 2019 and Storheia in 2021. The Norwegian operator Fosen Vind DA had the concession, expropriation permit and preliminary construction approval.

In 2013, the reindeer herders unsuccessfully appealed against the permits. They were expropriated. Lengthy litigation followed over the amount of compensation. In parallel, the Sámi had the legality of the concession reviewed. In 2018, the Inntroendelag District Court awarded the reindeer herders 19.6 million Norwegian kroner, roughly 1.7 million euros. The court of appeal increased the amount to 90 million kroner, around 7.6 million euros.

But it didn’t stop there. In 2021, the Norwegian Supreme Court ruled that even the 2013 concession award was void. It violated Article 27 of the UN Civil Covenant and thus the Sámi’s human rights to practice their culture. The ruling initially raised high expectations among the Sámi, but nothing followed.

In 2023, young Sámi in Norway protested against the government and occupied the Ministry of Energy for four days. They demanded that the state finally stop the human rights violations. They also demanded the dismantling of the plants. In winter 2023 and spring 2024, the reindeer herders came to an agreement with Fosen Vind DA and Nordic Wind on new compensation. The state promised to assign them alternative territories – but has yet to provide them.

Norway’s government vows to do better

Norway’s government, which is also backing the continued expansion of wind energy in reindeer pastures, aims to learn a lesson from the case. Elisabeth Sӕther, State Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, told Table.Briefings that the case was unique and “probably not a precedent regarding the amount of financial compensation or the additional pasture area.” However, she added, “as a state, we must also learn from the Fosen case.” She stressed the importance of creating good licenses with proper procedures and a better knowledge base.

More knowledge about international standards would be helpful. After all, most project developers, investment funds and wind farm operators had already committed to UN human rights guidelines before the Fosen ruling in 2021. By doing so, they are also committed to protecting indigenous businesses in line with the UN Global Compact.

This also applies to the human rights policy of Denmark-based Vestas. Nevertheless, Vestas supplied the wind turbines to Fosen Vind DA, even though the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) had already demanded a project stop for Fosen in 2018 until the legal situation had been clarified.

Fosen Vind DA is a project service provider owned by the Norwegian state-owned company Statkraft. Although the company is clearly committed to human rights, it ignored the 2018 UN request and began building the two wind farms. Kim Larsen, CEO of Fosen Vind DA, commented to Table.Briefings on the Norwegian Court’s legal opinion: The court ruled that “the license is invalid, a violation of Article 27.” However, the court did not say how this should be interpreted. “It said that the state, which is responsible for the license, must take measures to find out how we can deal with this situation.”

The Øyfjellet case

The Fosen case could have an impact on similar conflicts in Norway, for example, in the reindeer district of Jillen Njaarke near Mosjöen. There, Øyfjellet Vind DA operates a wind power plant with 72 turbines, which will initially supply electricity to the Alcoa aluminum factory in Mosjöen at a fixed rate for 15 years.

However, its operator refuses to acknowledge any connections. He sees “considerable differences between the two cases,” insists on his wind turbines in Mosjöen and is taking the local reindeer herders to court. They, in turn, feel that their traditional reindeer husbandry is being obstructed.

Lawyer Pål Gude Gudesen, who represents Jillen Njaarke, says: “The Fosen case is also an extremely important reference for the Øyfjellet case.” The parallels between the two cases are “obvious.” The reindeer herders are prepared to go all the way to the Supreme Court here, too.

A process that is also being closely monitored in Germany

The investor in Øyfjellet Vind DA is German Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft GmbH. It has been majority-owned by Commerzbank AG since 2024 and aims to become Europe’s leading asset manager for sustainable investment strategies.

In its code of ethics, Aquila Capital commits itself to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the UN Global Compact and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

Norway’s second-largest capital manager Storebrand shows that things can be done differently. The company monitored Øyjfellet Vindpark for two years and placed it on its investment exclusion list. Sustainability manager Vemund Olsen explains: “Storebrand believes that the wind farm was built in a way that violates the human rights of the reindeer owners in the Jillen-Njaarke reindeer grazing area.” Jane Tversted and Martin Zähringer

Climate in Numbers: A ship full of solar vs. a hundred coal ships

It is a drastic example of how much better the energy yield of renewables is compared to fossil fuels: A single ship full of PV modules could provide the means to generate as much electricity as would be possible with 50 tankers filled with gas or 100 ships full of coal. This is according to calculations by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its new “Energy Technology Perspectives 2024” report: It compares the electricity that can be generated from PV modules over 40 years with electricity from coal, which is generated quickly via combustion but gives off a large amount of its energy as heat.

According to the IEA report, the production and sale of PV systems, wind turbines, batteries, EVs, electrolyzers and heat pumps is a growth market that will expand from 700 billion dollars in 2023 to over 2 trillion dollars in 2035. This is roughly equivalent to global oil trade today. Despite the IRA in the USA and the Net Zero Industry Act in the EU, China will continue to dominate this trade: Even if the majority of investments in renewables are made in the EU, the USA and increasingly also in India, China will remain the main production site for renewables.

China remains renewables market leader

By 2035, China will export green products worth 340 billion dollars – as much as the oil exports of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates combined. According to the IEA, other regions could also benefit from the production of green technologies: Southeast Asia for the production of silicon and solar cells, Brazil for the construction of wind turbines, Africa for hydrogen.

A side aspect of the calculation on ship transportation: If the world were to switch to renewables, international shipping traffic would also decline significantly. This is because around 40 percent of all large cargo ships worldwide currently carry gas, oil and coal. Less shipping would then also mean fewer emissions. bpo

Coal: Global electricity generation capacity continues to grow

Last year, the global capacity of coal-fired power plants grew by 30 gigawatts (GW), meaning that the global generation of electricity from coal reached a new all-time high. This is according to the latest annual “Global Coal Exit List” published by an NGO network. Since 2015, the total capacity of installed coal-fired power plants has grown by eleven percent to 2,126 GW. “Nine years after the Paris Agreement was signed, the production of thermal coal has reached a new high and the global coal-fired power plant fleet is still growing,” criticized Heffa Schücking, Managing Director of the German environmental organization Urgewald.

The data includes publicly accessible information from large companies active in the coal sector in project development, mining, power plants and electricity supply. Overall, the network counts 1,560 companies. According to Urgewald, only 124 companies have set a coal phase-out date. Of these, however, only around half are planning to phase out coal over the next six to 16 years in line with the International Energy Agency (IEA) guidelines. Only seven companies plan to switch entirely to renewable energies. According to the organizations, the largest increase in coal projects is planned in China and India.

East German coal-fired power generation move to new company

One company that stands out among companies active in the German coal sector is the Czech EPH Group, led by CEO Daniel Křetínský. EPH owns opencast mines and coal-fired power plants in eastern Germany, as well as a stake in the steel division of Thyssenkrupp. According to the company, it will largely phase out coal by 2030. The Global Coal Exit List shows that the company has reduced its coal production by around three quarters and the share of coal in electricity generation by half since 2023.

However, most of the German coal division appears to have been transferred to its sister company EP Energy Transition, with an annual production of over 41 million tons and 98 percent of its electricity from coal combustion. By law, the coal phase-out in eastern Germany is to be completed by 2038 at the latest. EP Energy Transition did not provide its own coal phase-out date by the editorial deadline. av

Fossil energy: How the COP troika expands oil and gas

According to a study by environmental organizations, the countries belonging to the “troika” of COP hosts United Arab Emirates (UAE), Azerbaijan and Brazil have plans to massively expand their oil and gas production. The report “The COP Troika,” compiled by Oil Change International, 350.org, Menafem, and Observatorio do Clima, states that fossil fuel extraction in these countries is set to increase by 32 percent by 2035. The rise in fossil fuel production is divided into the following:

an increase of 36 percent in Brazil, host of COP30
an increase of 34 percent in the UAE, host of COP28
an increase of 14 percent in Azerbaijan, host of COP29.

The countries thus violate the COP28 decision to “transition away from fossil fuels,” the study criticizes. “Instead of leading by example, Troika countries are currently pursuing an oil and gas production trajectory that is incompatible with the 1.5°C limit.” By exporting oil and gas, the three countries would have caused up to 750 million tons of CO2 in 2022. “This is why NDCs that only cover fossil fuel use within their borders would fail to account for their full climate footprint.”

However, according to the report, the countries of the Global North – above all the USA – are “the worst culprits” in the expansion of oil and gas production, which is why these countries must not only phase out fossil fuels as quickly as possible, but also agree to climate financing of one trillion dollars a year from grants at COP29. Of this amount, the report calls for 300 billion dollars to be reserved for a just energy transition in the Global South. bpo

Health: How the climate crisis exacerbates risks

The number of heat-related deaths is rising rapidly and will likely exceed the number of cold-related deaths in the event of severe global warming. This is the conclusion of the report “Lancet Countdown in Health and Climate Change,” published on Wednesday.

In 2023, the global number of heat-related deaths among people over 65 was 167 percent higher than in the 1990s. An increase of 65 percent would have been expected if temperatures had not changed and only demographic changes had been taken into account. Healthcare systems that are supposed to protect people are contributing to the problem: Healthcare emissions have risen by 36 percent since 2016.

In 2023, people were exposed to harmful temperatures for an average of 50 days more than without climate change. Extreme drought affected 48 percent of the planet’s surface – the second-highest on record. Due to the increasing frequency of droughts and heatwaves, 151 million more people were affected by moderate to severe food insecurity than in a scenario without the effects of climate change. On average, people were exposed to 1,512 hours of heat stress last year. The risk is particularly high for people in the Global South.

Coal phase-out leads to fewer deaths from air pollution

The report also emphasizes:

Heat caused economic damage of 835 billion US dollars worldwide in 2023.
Climate change is increasing the risk of mosquito-borne diseases. For example, last year saw a record number of dengue infections – with more than five million cases.
More and more hours of sleep are lost due to heat stress.

The report is more optimistic concerning deaths caused by air pollution: They have declined slightly since 2016, mainly due to the coal phase-out.

The authors of the report call for the money that has so far flowed into fossil fuels to be invested in global health protection and a fair transition to a decarbonized society as quickly as possible. The authors believe that the right decisions need to be made at COP29. kul

Decarbonization: What German and Chinese science academies call for

The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have reaffirmed their cooperation and called for effective steps towards decarbonization in a “Berlin Declaration.” At the “Science for Future” conference on “On the Path to Carbon Neutrality” in Berlin on Monday and Tuesday, chairmen Gerald Haug and Jianguo Hou signed the paper and reaffirmed a statement from 2019.

The declaration stresses the “urgent need to pursue pathways to carbon neutrality.” To achieve this, “effective measures must be developed to reduce CO2 emissions in all relevant sectors, including energy, industry, transport and buildings as well as agriculture and forestry.” To this end, “appropriate framework conditions,” the promotion of clean technologies and “increased research on carbon neutrality” are key. Among other things, the declaration calls for

Continued development of national net-zero strategies in a socially just transition
Affordable CO2-neutral technologies;
Reducing and substituting fossil fuels, faster decarbonization through research and promotion of CCS and CCU, for example;
Developing a “fair and convergent global carbon pricing mechanism and a global carbon market”;
Establishing measurement and monitoring methods for carbon, research on the “carbon footprint” using an “MRV-based data framework,” i.e., transparency through verifiable procedures;
Strengthening Sino-German cooperation and exchange, e.g., through climate alliances.

Germany has legally committed to achieving net zero emissions across all sectors by 2045. China is aiming for ‘carbon neutrality’ before 2060, which does not take into account other greenhouse gases such as methane or nitrogen oxide. bpo

Energy transition: Majority of employees in Germany support expansion targets

A strong majority of employees in Germany support the energy transition. This is the result of a recent study conducted by the trade union-affiliated Hans Böckler Foundation, which surveyed around 2,000 employees across Germany. 62 percent of those surveyed support the renewable energy expansion targets.

‘Transformation must be socially responsible’

However, there is skepticism about the socio-economic consequences. For example, not even one in three expect energy prices to fall. Less than half expect new, well-paid jobs to be created. At the same time, more than two thirds of respondents were in favor of making the granting of subsidies conditional on good working conditions.

“Overall, the results of our study suggest that the demands to shape the ecological transformation in a socially responsible way cannot just be a footnote in the political debate, but must become central,” said study authors Vera Trappmann and Felix Schulz. ch

Spain: At least 72 dead after storms

At least 72 people have died in floods following heavy rain in large parts of Spain. According to the regional government, 63 people died in the Mediterranean region of Valencia alone. The number of missing persons was difficult to estimate as of Wednesday evening. It is the highest number of deaths caused by flooding in Europe since the flood disaster in the German Ahr valley in 2021.

Rescue efforts are still ongoing in many places. The situation is particularly dramatic in the regions of Andalusia, Murcia and Valencia, which are located directly on the Mediterranean. In many places, roads, houses and fields were flooded and cars and trees were swept away by the masses of water. Up to 200 millimeters of rain fell in Turis and Utiel, for example. In some areas, residents were trapped in their homes. In some cases, hail as large as golf balls fell. According to the weather service Aemet, the situation across Spain will not ease until Thursday.

The extent of the storms is likely to have been facilitated by climate change and, consequently, the warming of the Mediterranean. For every degree of warming, the atmosphere can absorb around seven percent more water through evaporation. This eventually returns as rain – in this case, within a few hours due to a cold drop, which led to instability in the atmosphere. For example, the intensity of rainfall in the German Ahr valley had increased by three to 19 percent due to climate change. dpa/rtr/lb

ZDF: UN Biodiversity Conference on the final stretch. The UN Biodiversity Conference under the motto “Peace with Nature” ends in Colombia on Friday. The goal of the conference is to reach an agreement on a plan to curb environmental destruction and global species extinction by 2030. Among other things, the focus will be on financing the necessary measures. To the article

Süddeutsche: South America is drying out. Almost all countries in South America are experiencing extreme drought for the second year in a row. Large streams have turned into small rivers. The main reasons are the El Niño weather phenomenon and climate change. Read the article

FAZ: Germany lacks moors. Raised bogs are particularly important for climate action, as they act as natural carbon sinks. In Germany, however, only two percent of moors retain their original state, while drained moors release considerable amounts of CO2. To the artic l e

New Scientist: Amazon nears tipping point. Deforestation in the Amazon has made the region a net source of CO2 and could accelerate climate change. Although the Amazon rainforests are traditionally considered a carbon sink, they released more carbon than they absorbed in 2015-16 and 2017-18. To the article

The Conversation: How language barriers influence climate knowledge. 90 percent of all scientific publications on climate are in English. But only a minority of people, especially in the Global South, speak the language. The UNESCO Open Science Initiative now wants to ensure that more texts are translated using modern language software. Read the article

CLIMATE.TABLE EDITORIAL OFFICE

Bernhard
Pötter

Alexandra
Endres

Christiane
Kühl

Lisa
Kuner

Lukas
Knigge

Malte
Kreutzfeldt

Nico
Beckert

Dear reader,

Germany has passed the million mark for smart meters. What sounds like a success story is not: Germany is lagging behind all the Baltic and Scandinavian countries as well as Italy, Spain and France when it comes to this key technology. Consumers have to expect longer waiting times, and installation is being hindered on several levels. Malte Kreutzfeldt has analyzed the reasons.

The energy transition is also a challenge in Norway. The dispute between the indigenous Sámi and the wind power operator Nordic Wind on the Fosen peninsula is an example of conflicting goals. Two planned wind turbines violate the human rights of the indigenous community, which breeds reindeer there. Jane Tversted and Martin Zähringer looked at how this land use conflict is progressing.

Today’s news includes how many coal ships can be replaced by a single ship with solar panels, why electricity generation from coal is nevertheless increasing, and how the COP Troika nations are expanding oil and gas production instead of abandoning it. Worrying are also the developments after the storms in Spain and the latest Lancet report. What gives hope, however, is that a strong majority of employees in Germany continue to support the energy transition.

Have an exciting read!

Your
Lukas Bayer

Smart meters: Why many German homeowners will have to wait a long time for them

By

Malte Kreutzfeldt

It sounds like a success story: The installation of so-called smart meters in Germany is believed to have passed the million mark, the German Economy Ministry (BMWK) confirmed to Table.Briefings on Wednesday. This means that the number of these devices has roughly quadrupled in the last two years. However, the figure also shows how far Germany is lagging behind in this technology, which is crucial for the energy transition and combines a digital electricity meter with a data connection: Of the approximately 50 million power connections in Germany, only two percent have been converted. By contrast, smart meters are now used almost exclusively in many other European countries, including all Scandinavian and Baltic States as well as Italy, Spain and France.

Many utilities have warned in recent days that the smart meter rollout in Germany will probably progress only slowly in the future. A current draft amendment to the Energy Industry Act plans to make it mandatory for fewer connections and make optional use more difficult and expensive. Until now, the plan was to make smart meters mandatory by next year if a solar system with more than seven kilowatts of power is operated or more than 6,000 kWh is consumed annually; this is the case for most owners of heat pumps and electric cars. If the draft law is implemented without changes, this requirement would be raised to 10,000 kilowatt-hours.

The situation will be even harder for consumers who voluntarily want to install a smart meter – for example, to take advantage of a dynamic electricity tariff. On the one hand, the installation costs are set to rise sharply: From 30 to up to 100 euros. In addition, additional costs of up to 30 euros per year may be charged. In many cases, this could exceed the potential savings in electricity costs, meaning that the new meters would no longer be economically viable for customers.

Right to voluntary installation is undermined

Secondly, obtaining such a meter will become much more difficult. The planned changes would severely restrict the legal right to this, which will apply to all customers next year. The draft stipulates that grid operators do not have to comply if this would jeopardize the implementation of installation in mandatory cases. The draft leaves open to what extent grid operators will have to prove this; in practice, the right to voluntary installation will likely be largely undermined.

Yet smart meters are actually considered a key prerequisite for the success of the energy transition. They consist of a digital electricity meter in conjunction with a so-called gateway, through which consumption data can be transmitted to the utility provider every quarter of an hour. This allows the use of flexible electricity tariffs, where consumers pay less when electricity is abundant and cheap on the electricity exchange, and more when it is scarce and expensive. The aim is to better align demand with supply, which helps to better use generation peaks and reduce the need for reserve power plants or storage facilities.

To achieve this, all electricity providers must offer at least one dynamic tariff as of next year. However, only a fraction of consumers will be able to use them. Providers such as Tibber or Octopus Energy, which offer such models, have reacted with outrage to the planned change. “If we slow down the rollout now, we will exclude a large proportion of people from truly participating in the energy transition,” says Bastian Gierull, CEO of Octopus Germany. He criticizes that such last-minute changes endanger the investment security of modern energy providers. Martin Lauenburg, CEO of Tibber Germany, considers the planned changes “socially unjust” and detrimental to acceptance. “In our Scandinavian home markets, we see how broad coverage of smart metering systems promotes innovative business models revolving around flexibility.”

Many German devices more complicated than necessary

The German Association of the New Energy Industry, representing many providers, has also sharply criticized the government’s plans. “The higher costs now planned for users of smart meters will further slow down digitalization and increase the costs for renewable energy systems,” explains Managing Director Roland Busch. The association criticizes that devices required in Germany are far too complicated for many applications. What is needed are “smart meters light” that do nothing more than “transmit measurements every 15 minutes,” says Busch.

It is precisely these simple smart meters that most other European countries have been using to date. Germany, on the other hand, has opted for more complex technology that also allows for external control. For instance, this ensures that grid operators can switch off solar systems remotely if there is too much electricity in the grid. Or that the power supply for heat pumps or EV charging can be temporarily throttled when electricity is particularly scarce.

This is extremely important for stable and affordable power generation. However, a data connection that controls the power supply requires significantly higher security standards than one that only transmits data to the supplier. For this reason, the data connection to the smart meter is usually encrypted via a dedicated mobile phone connection. Simple Internet transmission via WLAN or Powerline is not permitted. Moreover, all gateways must be certified by the Federal Office for Information Security. This leads to a limited supply with correspondingly higher prices; the industry speaks of an “oligopoly.”

Ministry: Current prices do not cover costs

A fundamental change is not in sight; however, some points of the draft law are currently being discussed as part of the consultation process with the federal states and associations. However, according to a BMWK spokesperson, “details from the ongoing consultation process and the possible solutions being discussed” cannot be disclosed. The ministry referred to the government’s latest digitization report to justify the planned changes. The report found that the previously planned cost caps would not cover the actual costs of grid operators. It also calls for the smart meter rollout to be “primarily system-oriented” – which means prioritizing connections with high electricity consumption.

If the responsible grid operator refuses to install the system, providers such as Octopus or 1Komma5Grad sometimes take care of it. But even in this case, the limited capacity means that this is currently only done for customers who also use the same provider’s solar system or heat pump. In most cases, it will probably be many years before ordinary electricity customers can also benefit from dynamic tariffs.

Norway: How the energy transition clashes with human rights

European companies are keen to invest in wind energy projects in Norway. The largest project with six wind turbines is located on the Fosen peninsula. But there is a dispute here. Two of the turbines violate the human rights of the indigenous Sámi, who breed reindeer in the area. While the Sámi are still waiting for alternative pastures, Swiss-owned Nordic Wind is already considering the construction of additional turbines on the Indre Fosen peninsula.

By 2024, Norway has built 65 wind farms with 1,392 turbines and a total output of 16,923-gigawatt hours. More are underway. However, in some areas, the conflict between concessions and reindeer pastures is getting in the way of expansion. The Fosen case is an example of this. It has taken the Norwegian land use conflict between the Sámi and the state to a new level and could impact other projects with foreign participation. This shows that even in Europe, achieving a balance between the interests of society as a whole in expanding renewable energy and the social and economic interests of the people affected in a region is complex.

What the Fosen case is about

Two wind farms on Sámi reindeer pastures were approved on the Fosen peninsula in 2013: the Roan wind farm with 71 wind turbines (255.6 gigawatts) and the Storheia wind farm (288 gigawatts). Roan went into operation in 2019 and Storheia in 2021. The Norwegian operator Fosen Vind DA had the concession, expropriation permit and preliminary construction approval.

In 2013, the reindeer herders unsuccessfully appealed against the permits. They were expropriated. Lengthy litigation followed over the amount of compensation. In parallel, the Sámi had the legality of the concession reviewed. In 2018, the Inntroendelag District Court awarded the reindeer herders 19.6 million Norwegian kroner, roughly 1.7 million euros. The court of appeal increased the amount to 90 million kroner, around 7.6 million euros.

But it didn’t stop there. In 2021, the Norwegian Supreme Court ruled that even the 2013 concession award was void. It violated Article 27 of the UN Civil Covenant and thus the Sámi’s human rights to practice their culture. The ruling initially raised high expectations among the Sámi, but nothing followed.

In 2023, young Sámi in Norway protested against the government and occupied the Ministry of Energy for four days. They demanded that the state finally stop the human rights violations. They also demanded the dismantling of the plants. In winter 2023 and spring 2024, the reindeer herders came to an agreement with Fosen Vind DA and Nordic Wind on new compensation. The state promised to assign them alternative territories – but has yet to provide them.

Norway’s government vows to do better

Norway’s government, which is also backing the continued expansion of wind energy in reindeer pastures, aims to learn a lesson from the case. Elisabeth Sӕther, State Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, told Table.Briefings that the case was unique and “probably not a precedent regarding the amount of financial compensation or the additional pasture area.” However, she added, “as a state, we must also learn from the Fosen case.” She stressed the importance of creating good licenses with proper procedures and a better knowledge base.

More knowledge about international standards would be helpful. After all, most project developers, investment funds and wind farm operators had already committed to UN human rights guidelines before the Fosen ruling in 2021. By doing so, they are also committed to protecting indigenous businesses in line with the UN Global Compact.

This also applies to the human rights policy of Denmark-based Vestas. Nevertheless, Vestas supplied the wind turbines to Fosen Vind DA, even though the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) had already demanded a project stop for Fosen in 2018 until the legal situation had been clarified.

Fosen Vind DA is a project service provider owned by the Norwegian state-owned company Statkraft. Although the company is clearly committed to human rights, it ignored the 2018 UN request and began building the two wind farms. Kim Larsen, CEO of Fosen Vind DA, commented to Table.Briefings on the Norwegian Court’s legal opinion: The court ruled that “the license is invalid, a violation of Article 27.” However, the court did not say how this should be interpreted. “It said that the state, which is responsible for the license, must take measures to find out how we can deal with this situation.”

The Øyfjellet case

The Fosen case could have an impact on similar conflicts in Norway, for example, in the reindeer district of Jillen Njaarke near Mosjöen. There, Øyfjellet Vind DA operates a wind power plant with 72 turbines, which will initially supply electricity to the Alcoa aluminum factory in Mosjöen at a fixed rate for 15 years.

However, its operator refuses to acknowledge any connections. He sees “considerable differences between the two cases,” insists on his wind turbines in Mosjöen and is taking the local reindeer herders to court. They, in turn, feel that their traditional reindeer husbandry is being obstructed.

Lawyer Pål Gude Gudesen, who represents Jillen Njaarke, says: “The Fosen case is also an extremely important reference for the Øyfjellet case.” The parallels between the two cases are “obvious.” The reindeer herders are prepared to go all the way to the Supreme Court here, too.

A process that is also being closely monitored in Germany

The investor in Øyfjellet Vind DA is German Aquila Capital Investmentgesellschaft GmbH. It has been majority-owned by Commerzbank AG since 2024 and aims to become Europe’s leading asset manager for sustainable investment strategies.

In its code of ethics, Aquila Capital commits itself to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the UN Global Compact and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

Norway’s second-largest capital manager Storebrand shows that things can be done differently. The company monitored Øyjfellet Vindpark for two years and placed it on its investment exclusion list. Sustainability manager Vemund Olsen explains: “Storebrand believes that the wind farm was built in a way that violates the human rights of the reindeer owners in the Jillen-Njaarke reindeer grazing area.” Jane Tversted and Martin Zähringer

Climate in Numbers: A ship full of solar vs. a hundred coal ships

It is a drastic example of how much better the energy yield of renewables is compared to fossil fuels: A single ship full of PV modules could provide the means to generate as much electricity as would be possible with 50 tankers filled with gas or 100 ships full of coal. This is according to calculations by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its new “Energy Technology Perspectives 2024” report: It compares the electricity that can be generated from PV modules over 40 years with electricity from coal, which is generated quickly via combustion but gives off a large amount of its energy as heat.

According to the IEA report, the production and sale of PV systems, wind turbines, batteries, EVs, electrolyzers and heat pumps is a growth market that will expand from 700 billion dollars in 2023 to over 2 trillion dollars in 2035. This is roughly equivalent to global oil trade today. Despite the IRA in the USA and the Net Zero Industry Act in the EU, China will continue to dominate this trade: Even if the majority of investments in renewables are made in the EU, the USA and increasingly also in India, China will remain the main production site for renewables.

China remains renewables market leader

By 2035, China will export green products worth 340 billion dollars – as much as the oil exports of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates combined. According to the IEA, other regions could also benefit from the production of green technologies: Southeast Asia for the production of silicon and solar cells, Brazil for the construction of wind turbines, Africa for hydrogen.

A side aspect of the calculation on ship transportation: If the world were to switch to renewables, international shipping traffic would also decline significantly. This is because around 40 percent of all large cargo ships worldwide currently carry gas, oil and coal. Less shipping would then also mean fewer emissions. bpo

Coal: Global electricity generation capacity continues to grow

Last year, the global capacity of coal-fired power plants grew by 30 gigawatts (GW), meaning that the global generation of electricity from coal reached a new all-time high. This is according to the latest annual “Global Coal Exit List” published by an NGO network. Since 2015, the total capacity of installed coal-fired power plants has grown by eleven percent to 2,126 GW. “Nine years after the Paris Agreement was signed, the production of thermal coal has reached a new high and the global coal-fired power plant fleet is still growing,” criticized Heffa Schücking, Managing Director of the German environmental organization Urgewald.

The data includes publicly accessible information from large companies active in the coal sector in project development, mining, power plants and electricity supply. Overall, the network counts 1,560 companies. According to Urgewald, only 124 companies have set a coal phase-out date. Of these, however, only around half are planning to phase out coal over the next six to 16 years in line with the International Energy Agency (IEA) guidelines. Only seven companies plan to switch entirely to renewable energies. According to the organizations, the largest increase in coal projects is planned in China and India.

East German coal-fired power generation move to new company

One company that stands out among companies active in the German coal sector is the Czech EPH Group, led by CEO Daniel Křetínský. EPH owns opencast mines and coal-fired power plants in eastern Germany, as well as a stake in the steel division of Thyssenkrupp. According to the company, it will largely phase out coal by 2030. The Global Coal Exit List shows that the company has reduced its coal production by around three quarters and the share of coal in electricity generation by half since 2023.

However, most of the German coal division appears to have been transferred to its sister company EP Energy Transition, with an annual production of over 41 million tons and 98 percent of its electricity from coal combustion. By law, the coal phase-out in eastern Germany is to be completed by 2038 at the latest. EP Energy Transition did not provide its own coal phase-out date by the editorial deadline. av

Fossil energy: How the COP troika expands oil and gas

According to a study by environmental organizations, the countries belonging to the “troika” of COP hosts United Arab Emirates (UAE), Azerbaijan and Brazil have plans to massively expand their oil and gas production. The report “The COP Troika,” compiled by Oil Change International, 350.org, Menafem, and Observatorio do Clima, states that fossil fuel extraction in these countries is set to increase by 32 percent by 2035. The rise in fossil fuel production is divided into the following:

an increase of 36 percent in Brazil, host of COP30
an increase of 34 percent in the UAE, host of COP28
an increase of 14 percent in Azerbaijan, host of COP29.

The countries thus violate the COP28 decision to “transition away from fossil fuels,” the study criticizes. “Instead of leading by example, Troika countries are currently pursuing an oil and gas production trajectory that is incompatible with the 1.5°C limit.” By exporting oil and gas, the three countries would have caused up to 750 million tons of CO2 in 2022. “This is why NDCs that only cover fossil fuel use within their borders would fail to account for their full climate footprint.”

However, according to the report, the countries of the Global North – above all the USA – are “the worst culprits” in the expansion of oil and gas production, which is why these countries must not only phase out fossil fuels as quickly as possible, but also agree to climate financing of one trillion dollars a year from grants at COP29. Of this amount, the report calls for 300 billion dollars to be reserved for a just energy transition in the Global South. bpo

Health: How the climate crisis exacerbates risks

The number of heat-related deaths is rising rapidly and will likely exceed the number of cold-related deaths in the event of severe global warming. This is the conclusion of the report “Lancet Countdown in Health and Climate Change,” published on Wednesday.

In 2023, the global number of heat-related deaths among people over 65 was 167 percent higher than in the 1990s. An increase of 65 percent would have been expected if temperatures had not changed and only demographic changes had been taken into account. Healthcare systems that are supposed to protect people are contributing to the problem: Healthcare emissions have risen by 36 percent since 2016.

In 2023, people were exposed to harmful temperatures for an average of 50 days more than without climate change. Extreme drought affected 48 percent of the planet’s surface – the second-highest on record. Due to the increasing frequency of droughts and heatwaves, 151 million more people were affected by moderate to severe food insecurity than in a scenario without the effects of climate change. On average, people were exposed to 1,512 hours of heat stress last year. The risk is particularly high for people in the Global South.

Coal phase-out leads to fewer deaths from air pollution

The report also emphasizes:

Heat caused economic damage of 835 billion US dollars worldwide in 2023.
Climate change is increasing the risk of mosquito-borne diseases. For example, last year saw a record number of dengue infections – with more than five million cases.
More and more hours of sleep are lost due to heat stress.

The report is more optimistic concerning deaths caused by air pollution: They have declined slightly since 2016, mainly due to the coal phase-out.

The authors of the report call for the money that has so far flowed into fossil fuels to be invested in global health protection and a fair transition to a decarbonized society as quickly as possible. The authors believe that the right decisions need to be made at COP29. kul

Decarbonization: What German and Chinese science academies call for

The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have reaffirmed their cooperation and called for effective steps towards decarbonization in a “Berlin Declaration.” At the “Science for Future” conference on “On the Path to Carbon Neutrality” in Berlin on Monday and Tuesday, chairmen Gerald Haug and Jianguo Hou signed the paper and reaffirmed a statement from 2019.

The declaration stresses the “urgent need to pursue pathways to carbon neutrality.” To achieve this, “effective measures must be developed to reduce CO2 emissions in all relevant sectors, including energy, industry, transport and buildings as well as agriculture and forestry.” To this end, “appropriate framework conditions,” the promotion of clean technologies and “increased research on carbon neutrality” are key. Among other things, the declaration calls for

Continued development of national net-zero strategies in a socially just transition
Affordable CO2-neutral technologies;
Reducing and substituting fossil fuels, faster decarbonization through research and promotion of CCS and CCU, for example;
Developing a “fair and convergent global carbon pricing mechanism and a global carbon market”;
Establishing measurement and monitoring methods for carbon, research on the “carbon footprint” using an “MRV-based data framework,” i.e., transparency through verifiable procedures;
Strengthening Sino-German cooperation and exchange, e.g., through climate alliances.