Saxony’s transformation: the economy is boosting support for renewable energy

Bobby Cirus

Saxony’s transformation: the economy is boosting support for renewable energy

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More than 60 companies are calling for an accelerated expansion of renewable energy. They also have a financial stake.

The lights of the buildings on the factory site glow in the darkness.

Wacker, a chemical company that wants to continue to shine with green electricity, has a plant in Nürlitz, Saxony. Photo: Sylvio Dittrich/imago

Berlin Taz | About two and a half weeks after the state elections, a business association in Saxony is urging the new state government to accelerate the expansion of renewable energy. “To continue to operate successfully, the market must be supplied with sufficient electricity from renewable sources such as wind, solar power and biomass at internationally competitive prices, and the corresponding infrastructure must be in place,” says the appeal published by Saxon Economy on Tuesday.

More than 60 companies have signed the appeal. According to their own information, they represent 13,000 jobs in various industries in almost all regions of the Free State. They are supported by the Chambers of Industry and Commerce of Dresden and Chemnitz. “The Free State of Saxony wants to achieve climate neutrality by 2045 at the latest, in line with the European and German goals,” they write. And they promise to take responsibility for this and invest in the energy transition. But they also want support from the state government in this regard. The visible support of the entire state government, as the appeal states, “strengthens citizens’ trust in government measures and increases local acceptance of society and local administration.”

The former chancellor and likely new chancellor will be Michael Kretschmer. His CDU won the most votes in the election, with 31.9%. But forming a new state government is likely to be difficult. His former coalition of the SPD and the Greens no longer holds a majority.

Saxony lags behind other federal states in terms of renewable energy. In particular, wind energy, according to the Federal Network Agency, only 9.1 megawatts of new power has been installed so far this year. For comparison, Saxony-Anhalt installed 94.1 megawatts of new wind power capacity.

Companies are demanding that barriers be removed.

So the companies, which include giants like Siemens and Wacker, are calling on future state governments to speed up and legally secure planning and approval processes. “A culture that enables the regional expansion of renewable energy and related infrastructure is needed at all political and administrative levels of a free nation,” the companies wrote. To achieve this, bureaucratic hurdles must be reduced, and “the executive instructions of the state ministers for each government” must be clearly written.

Behind these demands are primarily the economic interests of the companies. “As an energy-intensive company, competitive electricity prices are of the utmost importance to us. This is the only way we can succeed in Germany and Saxony in the long term,” says Jutta Matreux, who manages the plant for the Munich chemicals group Wacker in Nünchritz near Meißen. With around 1,500 employees, the company claims to be the largest chemicals employer in Saxony. Matreux also sees this change as an opportunity for Saxony. “Green energy is not only the cleanest but also the cheapest form of energy,” says the manager.

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