Wind and solar energy will soon be generating most of the electricity in the grid. That's good, because wind and solar are by far the cheapest energy sources and are also climate-neutral. However, they fluctuate greatly, leading to very high electricity prices in some cases when power is scarce. But it also leads to very favourable and increasingly negative prices when the supply of electricity is too high.
Both lead to high costs and jeopardise the security of our electricity supply. At the heart of the problem are the rules of our electricity market, which offer too few incentives for both producers and consumers to behave in a grid-friendly manner, i.e. in such a way that supply and demand are as balanced as possible.
Experts therefore agree that a new electricity market design is needed. Karsten Schäfer talks to Kerstin Andreae, Managing Director of the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), and Simone Peter, President of the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE), about what this could look like.
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Kersten Andreae has been Managing Director of BDEW since November 2019. She previously held several positions for BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN . These included as a member of the Finance Committee, local government spokesperson and economic policy spokesperson for the parliamentary group.
Kerstin Andreae was born on 21 October 1968 in Schramberg, Black Forest. After graduating from high school, she studied economics at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. After working in project management at an agency and for a financial services provider in the wind energy sector, she became a local councillor for the City of Freiburg.
Dr Simone Peter has been President of the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE) since 2018. She was previously the national chairwoman of BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN.
Ms Peter studied biology at Saarland University, where she also completed her doctorate. Peter began her career in renewable energy as a research assistant at the European Association for Renewable Energies (EUROSOLAR). She then worked as a project manager and managing director at the Agency for Renewable Energies before becoming Saarland's Minister for the Environment, Energy and Transport.