Europe’s largest economy is going through a monumental change due to the energy transition or ‘Energiewende’ as it’s called in Germany. Over the years significant amounts of private sector money and government subsidies have gone into renewables. Approximately $200 billion has been invested in wind turbines and photovoltaic cells to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses. Despite the growing share of renewables, coal is still a significant part of the energy mix. Also, since the disaster at Fukushima, nuclear energy has fallen out of grace with the German public. The phasing out of coal and nuclear-fired power plants by 2038 will require additional sources to supplement intermittent wind and solar power. (Click to enlarge) The relative clean nature and abundance of natural gas make it an ideal ‘bridging fuel’ towards a carbon neutral future. Therefore, the German government has shown support for investments in gas infrastructure to ensure a […]