Energiewende: current state, future development and impacts on the Czech energy sector

In response to the accident in Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant Merkel's coalition government decided on the immediate closure of 8 out of17 German nuclear power plants, while planning to decommission the remaining ones until 2022. This step is a part of long-term strategy of Germany to radically change the domestic energy sector, (strategy called Energiewende, EW), initiated already in the 1980s. The aim of this strategy is to decrease emissions of the greenhouse gases as well as its dependency on the import of fossil fuels. Regarding the size and significance of German energy sector, an inevitable consequence of the EW is the significant transformation of energy sectors of the neighbouring countries as well as a partial transformation of the European Union's energy policy.

The presented study explores the impact of these changes using the Czech Republic as an example. On one hand, the Czech Republic is closely connected to Germany with its trade ties, on the other hand, it looks at the EW rather sceptically and plans on developing the domestic energy sector as centralized one with increasing role of nuclear while maintaining the stable role of coal.

The text summarizes the background of the EW development and its impact on the German power production. An analysis of the way in which EW influences the Czech electricity market follows. The last part deals with the Europeanization of the Energiewende.

The book is available in Czech only.