Renewables co-op fights Vattenfall for control of Berlin grid

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A Berlin citizens' group wants to wrest control of the city’s electricity grid in order to promote renewable energy. They accuse current operator Vattenfall of failing to seek alternatives to fossil fuels.
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The grid is currently under the control of Swedish energy giant Vattenfall. But the people in this room say the utility has failed to embrace Germany's transition to renewable energy and they want to take over grid control. The contract between the grid operator and Berlin's government runs out at the end of 2014 and the two women speaking today - Luise Neumann-Cosel and Arwen Colell - have come up with a plan.

“It was May 2011, when Luise called me up on the phone saying the concession's ending and we should buy the grid," Colell told DW in an interview. "I thought, yeah, we really should."

The pair have formed BuergerEnergie Berlin (Citizen Energy Berlin), a cooperative which is pooling investments from members in order to make a bid for grid control. Colell and Neumann-Cosel have criss-crossed the country, building their concept with input from organizations like the Elektrizitaetswerke Schoenau (Electricity Utility Schoenau), a citizens' group that operates the power grid in the German town of Schoenau.

http://www.dw.de/renewables-co-op-fights-vattenfall-for-control-of-berlin-grid/a-16811971

There is another citizens group working for control of the Berlin grid, as well as the state-owned company Berliner Staedtische Elektrizitaetswerke.

Why? According to these Berliners, ""Vattenfall is still relying on coal energy production, like we see here in Brandenburg, not far from Berlin. They also rely on nuclear power plants," said Taschner. "I don't think a company that relies on that energy production has an interest in decentralized renewable energy here in Berlin."

Energiewende is about far more than slapping a panel on a roof and claiming some FIT cash, it's about taking control. Obama will visit the city in June.

[kristopher]

1. RecKick RecKick RecKick

I love this article.

This is what will get us to a better future.

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2. Another part of Energiewende rarely discussed - signing up with a provider. A link.

I think it was back in 2011 that a poll showed people would be willing to pay more for electricity - if they could choose its source. So the grid was opened up to tariff providers, not unlike cell, telephone, or internet service.

I think it was mentioned in this forum at the time, but the article was in German and an appeal for poor people to sign up for a good deal was comically misunderstood as a villainous and expensive assault on the poor, destined to drive people to homelessness, which doesn't exist here unless voluntary.

Now a couple of years down the road, here's what's happened: signups have still been slow, 25% or so I think, and seems to be a matter of habit; the number of providers and complexity of plans has grown to the edge of comprehension; and it hasn't generated more cash for renewables because the Ökostrom plans are the lowest in price.

Plus, plenty of websites have cropped up to help in finding the best provider. Here's one. These are the 56 providers for the city of Essen:
http://goo.gl/KYH0s

The contracts are on a 4000 kWh/Year basis, which is considered more than adequate.

The lowest is ExtraEnergie with its extrastrom 12 for 911,70 € / 1st Year. Easy12 Strom from Vattenfall is in at 954,80 Euro/Jahr. RWE is near the bottom at 1.164,30 € for the 1st Year and they won't deal with you online. It's all expensive as it should be. But the interesting part is that it's cheapest for those who both signup for renewables and use the least.

On edit, I should have been more clear that the purpose of the program isn't necessarily to find the lowest price, but it's to allow people to sign up with a provider that commits to a 100% renewable source.

Anyway, regarding the FIT, one thing that shows in the Berliner's actions above is how the middle class property owners are involved and active. By most accounts the FIT was priced higher than it needed to be, but the effect has been to involve just these people in the transition process and that has been priceless. If that was an intentional action, it's political genius.