Helmholtz Alliance ENERGY-TRANS publishes policy brief on "The Future of the Energy Transition in Germany" [20.05.2014]

The Renewable Energy Sources Act (the Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz, EEG), the main instrument of the German energy transition policy with its feed-in tariffs, is supposed to be fundamentally revised in the course of this year. A precondition for achieving a coherent further development of the energy transition policy and for receiving the sound support of a critical public is that the long-term consequences of political decisions on the complex sociotechnical energy system will be taken into account.

The energy transition in Germany and the related challenges are at the heart of research at the Helmholtz Alliance ENERGY-TRANS. The specific perspective of ENERGY-TRANS is to consider the energy system mainly from the perspectives of societal demand and the user and to analyze the various interfaces between technical, economic, and social factors that determine the transition towards new infrastructures. The results are expected to provide action-oriented knowledge for an efficient and socially compatible development of the future energy system.

Based on this research, researchers from the Helmholtz Alliance ENERGY-TRANS take a stance in the project's second policy brief. It tackles current important controversial issues from the energy transformation and specifies the fundamental challenges a sustainable energy transition policy is facing. The 17 brief statements were prepared by researcher from five institution involved in the Helmholtz-Alliance (UFZ, ZEW, FU Berlin, DLR and University of Stuttgart (ZIRIUS)). The statements aim at providing evidence-based orientation for policy making.

Further links:

• Helmholtz Alliance ENERGY TRANS Policy Brief, Edition 02/2014