The Myth of the Dark Side of the Energiewende

Germany’s large-scale deployment of RES-based power generation has not resulted in a significant decline of its energy-related CO2 emissions. The reason for this emissions trend was the constantly high level of coal-fired power generation in Germany. Consequently, it has been argued that the German coal binge may be the “dark side” of the Energiewende. We point out that this argumentation is flawed. In fact, the increase in coal-fired generation has been strongly driven by developments on international fuel and carbon markets—and not only, if at all, by the phase-out of nuclear and ongoing RES deployment.