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Europe’s newfound strange love:how to shoot off its feet
21 October 2013
(EIRNS)—At the time economic austerity is being imposed on most of the European nations, the authorities are handing out large subsidies to the worthless renewable energy producers. This insane energy policy is now being opposed by none other than the CEOs of Europe’s largest energy companies, who produce almost half of Europe’s electricity, according to an article in Forbes magazine. The group includes Germany’s E.ON AG, France’s GDF Suez SA, and Italy’s Eni SpA, and they unanimously pointed the finger at European government’s poorly thought-out decision at the turn of the millennium to promote renewable energy by any means. The importance given to renewables has become a threat to the security of the continent’s energy supply, warned senior global energy analyst, Colette Lewiner, referring to a recent report by a European energy firm, Capgemini. "We’ve failed on all accounts: Europe is threatened by a blackout like in New York a few years ago, prices are shooting up higher, and our carbon emissions keep increasing," said GDF Suez CEO Gérard Mestrallet, ahead of a news conference. How badly does this insane policy affect the economy? Under these subsidy programs, wind and solar power producers get priority access to the grid and are guaranteed high prices. In France, nuclear power wholesales for about euro 40/MWhr ($54/MWhr), but electricity generated from wind turbines is guaranteed at euro 83/MWhr ($112/MWhr), regardless of demand. Customers have to pick up the difference. The subsidies enticed enough investors into wind and solar that Germany now has almost 60,000 MW of wind and solar capacity, or about 25% of that nation’s total capacity. A sane response, of course, would lead these companies to demand a reversal of the German government’s insane "nuclear exit." [RMA] |