German government backtracks on the Energy Transition

Another article dealing with the challenges of Germany's Energiewende.  If furthers my suspicions that coal is, in fact, a much better compliment for renewables than natural gas.  Vattenfall's head is quoted as saying, "We cannot do without coal. You can call it a bridge technology, but then it is a hell of a long bridge."

German government backtracks on the Energy Transition:

"...policy reports about Germany's energy transition may sound impressive, but they have little to do with the everyday reality of German power supply. At present, nuclear power still makes up 18 percent of electricity supply, with renewables coming in at around 20 percent - and the remaining approximately 60 percent coming mainly from brown coal, anthracite, and natural gas. Indeed, the use of coal-fired power plants has been growing in Germany at the expense of more climate-friendly gas-fired capacity. In a recent report, Deutsche Bank predicts that 25% of German's gas-fired power plant capacity will be shut by 2015, and replaced by coal power."

The entire article can be read at the European Energy Review site: