This week's guest on @MLCleaningUp was my friend @P_Graichen, Mr #Energiewende, Secretary of State for Economy and Climate Action in Germany. We talked nuclear, renewables, hydrogen and German's response to Ukraine. I pushed him pretty hard, don't miss it!
cleaningup.live/ep88-patrick-g…
It's an incredibly deep interview, and quite explosive in parts. For instance here @P_Graichen explains that the German heating industry needs to increase installations by 4-5 times in 18 months, from 130,000 to 800,000 or 900,000 installations per year. youtube.com/clip/Ugkx7d956…
The entire value chain in solar, in wind, in heat pumps - has to grow three to four-fold. @P_Graichen is telling industry to invest, but sometimes, he says, he is astonished that industry doesn't seem to believe that this is actually going to happen. youtube.com/clip/UgkxV2c5s…
State Secretary Graichen does not see Germany or the EU applying local content rules to capture jobs associated with the net zero transition, but he does see #reshoring and #friendshoring because of the Ukraine war and over-reliance on China. youtube.com/clip/UgkxYP7Kn…
So then we discussed how current events are forcing Germany to rethink its entire economic model and its reliance on free trade. "Suddenly there's geopolitics. And to be honest, Germany was never really good at geopolitics." Well that's honest!
youtube.com/clip/Ugkxxs9Yq…
As @P_Graichen explains, Germany never had a law mandating minimum gas storage going into winter. "Then we ended up finding out that there were gas storages owned by Gazprom, and they were empty at the beginning of this winter. Looking back we know why!"
youtube.com/clip/UgkxfCZDI…
As for #uclear, @P_Graichen says that "the nuclear issue is basically gone and decided". Here he explains why keeping the last three German nuclear plants open was considered, but not really an option:
youtube.com/clip/UgkxkdHLm…
It was a very honest interview. Secretary of State @P_Graichen says renewables, efficiency, electrification and resilience are not in conflict; however, he worries how to allocate his team's time between working on them versus on diversification of supply.
youtube.com/clip/Ugkxdciln…
Of course, the backdrop to all this is the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Germany is currently planning to keep buying Russian gas for the next two years. I ask @P_Graichen why the words "never again" don't mean an immediate stop to these purchases.youtube.com/clip/UgkxJuGEk…
The whole section on Germany's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine is very much worth listening to. @P_Graichen does his best to answer what are undoubtedly the toughest questions in energy policy today. Listen from 32'11" to 40'09" right now.
In parts it makes quite uncomfortable listening. Here I challenge State Secretary @P_Graichen over the remark by Finance Minister Christian Lindner that "we have to be patient". If only all politicians were prepared to be questioned like this.
youtube.com/clip/UgkxSQXxy…
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