Germany: Experts want Energy Ministry

BERLIN, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The next German government should install an Energy Ministry after this Sunday's federal elections, experts say.

"We need a intelligibly designed one-stop energy policy," Wulf Bernotat, chief executive officer of Eon, Germany's and one of the world's largest utilities, told German daily Bild. "It's of no help when (the current ministry lays) only a one-sided focus on climate protection, then later on supply security, and later on price development."

In the United States, the oil crisis in 1977 gave rise to a unified energy department. In Germany, renewable energy policy is the responsibility of the Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. But the problem is that other ministries are also part of the energy-related decision making process.

The Economy Ministry regulates the energy market with its decisions over Germany's energy grids and oversees competition rules; the Transport Ministry sets environmental and fuel-efficiency standards for automobiles, thus influencing natural and energy resources; and the Science Ministry is responsible for the support of new energy technologies.

Of course Bernotat's statement is aimed at furthering the interests of his company, which is eager to have a single point of contact it can flood with its lobbyists.

But his demand remains nevertheless valid, experts say. Mostly, the ministries do not act in concert when deciding upon Germany's future energy infrastructure; they even fight over individual policies.

In a bid to further climate protection efforts, the Environment Ministry recently lobbied for color-coding German cars according to their carbon dioxide emissions. Its head Sigmar Gabriel later told the press that Economy Minister Theodor zu Guttenberg had blocked the measure, likely because he feared that the German car industry could suffer.

Gabriel, a stern opponent of nuclear energy, also wants the Economy Ministry to boost support for the modernization of Germany's electricity grid, so that the power generated by the highly fluctuating renewables wind and solar energy can be integrated more seamlessly.

One of Germany's premier energy experts, Claudia Kemfert, has long called for an energy ministry, where strategic decisions are drafted and taken. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives are open to the idea, observers say.