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The German Renewable Energy Sources Act—an investment into the future pays off already today

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  • Krewitt, Wolfram
  • Nitsch, Joachim

Abstract

While the success of the German Renewable Energy Sources Act in supporting the use of renewable energy sources for electricity generation is widely acknowledged, it is partly criticised for imposing unjustified extra costs on society. Based on the well established ExternE methodology for the quantification of environmental externalities the paper makes an attempt to estimate the external costs avoided in the German energy system due to the use of renewable energies for electricity generation, and to compare them against the compensation to be paid by grid operators for electricity from renewable energies according to the Renewable Energy Sources Act. In spite of existing uncertainties associated with the assessment of external costs, results clearly indicate that the reduced environmental impacts and related economic benefits do outweigh the additional costs for the compensation of electricity from renewable energies.

Suggested Citation

  • Krewitt, Wolfram & Nitsch, Joachim, 2003. "The German Renewable Energy Sources Act—an investment into the future pays off already today," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 533-542.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:28:y:2003:i:4:p:533-542
    DOI: 10.1016/S0960-1481(02)00064-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Krewitt, Wolfram, 2002. "External costs of energy--do the answers match the questions?: Looking back at 10 years of ExternE," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(10), pages 839-848, August.
    2. Krewitt, Wolfram & Heck, Thomas & Trukenmuller, Alfred & Friedrich, Rainer, 1999. "Environmental damage costs from fossil electricity generation in Germany and Europe," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 173-183, March.
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    2. Bessi, Alessandro & Guidolin, Mariangela & Manfredi, Piero, 2021. "The role of gas on future perspectives of renewable energy diffusion: Bridging technology or lock-in?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    3. Diakoulaki, D. & Mirasgedis, S. & Tourkolias, C., 2007. "Assessment and exploitation of energy-related externalities in the industrial sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 2925-2938, May.
    4. Andrew Adewale Alola & Uju Violet Alola, 2018. "Agricultural land usage and tourism impact on renewable energy consumption among Coastline Mediterranean Countries," Energy & Environment, , vol. 29(8), pages 1438-1454, December.
    5. Yang, Xi & Teng, Fei & Wang, Gehua, 2013. "Incorporating environmental co-benefits into climate policies: A regional study of the cement industry in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 1446-1453.
    6. Wang, Jinman & Wang, Ruogu & Zhu, Yucheng & Li, Jiayan, 2018. "Life cycle assessment and environmental cost accounting of coal-fired power generation in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 374-384.

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