Alemania : September 18, 2009
The recent troubles at the Vattenfall Kruemmel nuclear power plant near Hamburg may prove to be a good thing for green energy companies who, in one instance, have fielded more than 200 inquiries per day since the power outage.
After a shutdown of more than two years, the Kruemmel nuclear power station near Hamburg had been back in operation for less than two weeks when one of its transformers short-circuited causing the plant to shut down operations once again. The sudden drop in voltage caused numerous services, including shopping centers to traffic lights, in Germany’s second largest city to go dark. Vattenfall, the Swedish company running the Kruemmel plant, said the transformer short circuit and resulting hour long blackout was an isolated incident. Consumers, however, may view the incident otherwise much to the delight of green energy companies who have benefited from an upsurge in interest concerning their products.
Lichtblick, a Hamburg-based renewable energy company, reports an additional 200 calls per day since the troubles at Kruemmel – a 70 percent increase! Lichtblick’s energy source is a mix of hydro, wind, solar and biomass power production. Germany’s renewable energy accounts for 20 percent of the country’s entire energy needs.
Supporters of nuclear power argue that this type of generation is a good and viable alternative to fossil fuel power plants and the greenhouse gases they produce. Their argument is not without merit as there is concern that phasing out nuclear power production, an initiative started by the Social Democrats in 2000, would simply lead to increased electricity production from coal plants.
The ongoing problems with nuclear power plants continue to stoke the debate here in Germany both among politicians and consumers. The series of problems, such as the most recent one at Kruemmel as well as the storage of nuclear waste, have triggered a major rethink amongst Germans keen to find a long-term and viable solution to the country’s energy needs.