Austria to go 100 percent nuclear-free (bans imports of nuclear power)

[kristopher]

Austria to go 100 percent nuclear-free

This month, Austria went ahead with its plans to ban imports of nuclear power to the country. Electricity is to be labeled to ensure that no power from nuclear reactors is purchased from abroad. The EU is not pleased about the move, which has gone practically unnoticed in reports in English.

In a press release (in German) from July 4, the Austrian Parliament announced the adoption of a ban on nuclear power imports to the country. The policy decision was announced more than a year ago but has only now been made law.

Minister Reinhold Mitterlehner was quick to relativize the matter, however, arguing that Austria has merely implemented mandatory labels on all sources of electricity, including pumped storage, though he admits that, in practice, imports of nuclear power have effectively been banned. Basically, all Austrian power providers have pledged to refrain from purchasing nuclear power from abroad, and starting in 2015 all power will have to be labeled. According to a report at Der Spiegel (in German), imports of mixed origin – only some of which is nuclear – currently make up almost 14 percent of Austria's power supply.

Critics have charged that the labeling itself is impossible because individual electrons cannot be traced back to a source, as the Wall Street Journal argued a few years ago. Yet, at the time, Germany already had its power labeled, which seems to have escaped experts at the most prominent economic daily in the US. Power purchase agreements are signed between entities, so it is generally possible to know what your power mix is.

Austrian ...

http://www.renewablesinternational.net/austria-to-go-100-percent-nuclear-free/150/537/71512/

[Franker65]

1. Austria does not need nuclear power

and is a considerably wealthy country with high employment and a low population. No real surprise here since Germany, one of Austra's largest neighbours, is set to phase out nuclear power anyway.

[ladjf]

2. Smart move! nt

[gcomeau]

4. In what way is it a smart move? -nt

[kristopher]

7. Yes, their entire approach to energy is a "smart move". nt

[FBaggins]

8. 75% coal... most of the rest Natural Gas

No surprise that you feel their approach is "smart"

The rest of us need to keep the laugh quotes around the word.

The reality is that there is no reality here. There will be no change in the sources of their imported electricity. It will merely be labeled differently. Much ado about nothing.

[kristopher]

9. Good ol' dependable AtomicBaggins

You might want to go back to school with the material in post 6 below. They only get 4% of their energy from imports and they plan to grow domestic renewables to compensate for eliminating the nuclear segment. Hell, given the growth in German renewable exports, they could probably get what they need there were they so inclined.

[FBaggins]

10. I'm glad you screwed that up so badly.

Since I must have been looking at an awful resouce. Most of their production is apparently hydro... no coal.

But they import WAY more than 4% of their energy (about 2/3 in fact).

[kristopher]

11. You don't realize how petty and meaningless such games show you to be, do you?

We are having a discussion of the electric sector. Your attempt to spin this move by Austria on behalf of he nuclear industry (why would anyone feel compelled to do that?) was very, very lame. When that is demonstrated you resort to an attempt to divert attention in this manner?

Well, I guess you succeeded - the focus in this post is how very inept you are and how empty of content your position must be to force you into adopting 3rd grade playground "debate" tactics.

[ladjf]

15. kristopher, you are one of the best posters on DU. Keep up the good fight trying to enlighten

as many people as possible.

[FBaggins]

20. Pretty gutsy

to accuse anyone else of petty/childish/etc after your recent stalking of Pam.

Entertaining.

We are having a discussion of the electric sector.

Your errors really aren't my responsibility... but they import much more than 4% of their electricity as well (keep in mind that NET is not what counts).

There's no "spin on behalf of nuclear"... it's actually calling out nonsensical spin on the part of some anti-nuclear politicians. Because it's ridiculous to pretend that Austria can actually do what the title claims. The sources of imported electricity won't change in the slightest... they'll mere'y "label" it as such.

Some people are fooled into believing that ALL of their personal supply is solar or wind... but of course that's nonsense. It's a clever marketing idea and it helps support the growth of renewables as those of us who are willing to pay more to be greener cough up a little extra... but let's not pretend there's any reality to it.

[oldhippie]

21. It's amazing how often ....

.... you and PamW can spank Kristopher, and he keeps coming back for more.

[kristopher]

22. Poor "old hippie"

Demoted from the nuclear club's passive-aggressive antisolar warrior to being the peanut gallery for the clown act.

That's gotta sting.

[FBaggins]

24. Still pounding on the table, eh?

Telling.

Oh... and you may have missed the note Skinner sent you.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1259&pid=2716

[oldhippie]

3. They will set up border checkpoints .....

... where the transmission lines cross the border and inspect the labels to make sure none of those contraband nuclear generated electrons come across the border to wreak havoc upon the citizens of Austria!

The War on (Nuclear) Electrons!

[Warren Stupidity]

12. No I think they just ask their import providers how they generate their electricity. nt.

[oldhippie]

14. But, you know, of course ....

... that won't keep any nuclear generated electricity from entering Austria? It's just a matter of who gets paid for it.

Or do you think maybe there are some foreign non-nuclear input providers that have separate lines that tie directly into the Austrian grid? And that the Austrian grid isn't interconnected with the rest of Europe? It could be, I guess.

I don't really care. I was just being humorous about the border checkpoints.

[NickB79]

5. It doesn't say what they're importing instead

And which countries they'll be importing it from.

That would be important information to know, but is not listed in the link. Perhaps it's listed in the press release, but I can't read German.

[kristopher]

6. What makes you think it will be replaced with imports?

Last edited Mon Jul 29, 2013, 03:57 PM - Edit history (1)

Austria: Quiet contender packs a punch
22/05/2013
By Kelvin Ross
Deputy Editor

Austria is putting in place policy, regulations and - crucially - financing, to drive growth in its renewable energy sector, writes Kelvin Ross.

A quick question for you: which European country offers the best investment opportunities for renewable energy? Picked an answer? I bet you went for Germany, maybe Denmark, Norway - or even the UK.
And you would have been wrong on all counts, because the answer, according to a recent report, is Austria. The landlocked country - the 114th biggest in the world, with a population of 8.27 million - came top in the Energy Investment Map, a report complied by UK firm PA Consulting Group.

...

Trends and changes
Analysts at London-headquartered Business Monitor International have recently published a report into Austria's renewables sector, in which they highlight the following key trends and regulatory changes:
- The government raised feed-in tariffs (FiTs) for all renewable energy in July 2011, and extended the duration for guaranteed payments.
- In September 2012, the government terminated the FiT for new building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) plants, with capacities over 500 kW. It introduced a digression mechanic for FiTs, and made a general reduction in the FiT for solar energy.
- The government has decided to halt imports of nuclear power by the end of 2014 and will need to seek other generation sources to fill the gap. The country currently imports just over 3 per cent of its electricity needs, and growth of 4.7 per cent per annum in electricity generation should be sufficient to fulfil its ambition.
- The country recently unveiled a new smart grid project that is aimed at increasing the share of photovoltaic solar power. The €5 million ($6.5 million) project, spanning three years, is expected to lead to the development of 120 photovoltaic systems....

http://www.powerengineeringint.com/articles/print/volume-21/issue-5/features/austria-quiet-contender-packs-a-punch.html

Let's repeat the takeaway for the hard of hearing AtomicBaggins:
- The government has decided to halt imports of nuclear power by the end of 2014 and will need to seek other generation sources to fill the gap. The country currently imports just over 3 per cent of its electricity needs, and growth of 4.7 per cent per annum in electricity generation should be sufficient to fulfil its ambition.



See also: Austria's New Energy Future By Dr Reinhold Mitterlehner, Federal Minister for Economy and Energy, Austria; Autumn 2012
http://www.europeanenergyinnovation.eu/Articles/Autumn2012/AustriasNewEnergyFuture.aspx


and for information on how their power labeling system is designed:
http://www.e-control.at/en/businesses/renewables/electricity-labelling-regulations

[OnlinePoker]

13. I can't find info from 2012, but according to EIA, 2011 net imports of electricity are 13.8%

They generated 59.474 Billion Kwh, imported 24.98 B Kwh, and exported 16.75 B Kwh for a net import of 8.23 B Kwh.

http://www.eia.gov/cfapps/ipdbproject/iedindex3.cfm?tid=2&pid=2&aid=12&cid=AU,&syid=2007&eyid=2011&unit=BKWH

Of their generation, 6.3 B Kwh is coming from biomass, but (according to the 2009 article linked below) the wood for this is being logged. Not only does this disrupt the natural cycle of forests but the energy intensity of logging and burning also puts CO2 and sooty particles into the atmosphere. If the biomass was coming from waste such as landfill offgassing, I'd say it was green, but I don't believe it's the case here.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2009/04/austria-flexes-its-bioenergy-muscles

[kristopher]

17. The EIA sucks

For some data (US is their area of responsibility) they are fair but their methods of tabulation require a great deal of scrutiny.

For forecasts they are the worst - literally the worst.

For OECD data a far better source is the International Energy Agency.

For 2009 in GwH




Available here:
https://www.iea.org/stats/electricitydata.asp?COUNTRY_CODE=AT

Latest monthly stats



available here:
http://www.iea.org/stats/surveys/mes.pdf

[Iterate]

19. Eurostat for the EU

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/statistics/search_database

Pretty solid. The shortcomings? A maddening tendency to use Mtoe or Ktoe, or an index to 1990, when you really just want the raw numbers. It's also not quick when the BS alarm goes off and you just want to check a claim, as there are not many summaries. Export is good, the graphs are lame, historical data is limited. It stays current. Plenty of interesting numbers to look at, generating plenty of lost hours.

They've started to include monthly electricity import/export figures, including some annual figures with country of origin and destination. Austria is a net importer by a small amount, usually more than 2009, but little of it could come from Hungary or the Czech Republic anyway. Looks like there's a healthy trade with Germany and has been for some time. Still, these are very small percentages of total consumption.

I see several myths that can be shot down from those two annual import/export tables alone. Salvation for DE from French and Czech nuclear? Nope, it's not in the numbers. Quite the opposite in fact. DE flooding Poland with cheap wind electricity? Nope, it's not in the numbers.

[NickB79]

23. Your copy-paste button is stuck again

Let's repeat the takeaway for the hard of hearing AtomicBaggins

[quadrature]

16. Gazprom is pleased

so is Gerhard Shroeder

[kristopher]

18. ??

[jpak]

26. sock

puppet

[jpak]

25. LOL!

[peoli]

27. kick