Hijacked by policy

The German government's draft energy policy can make you nervous. The idea that industrial companies could adapt their electricity consumption to the availability of renewable energies in the future with a little good will has something highly infantile about it. This would mean that on days with lots of sunshine and wind, a coater would have to ramp up production to the extreme and have two or even better three coating lines on standby - which they could activate quickly. Not to mention having personnel available at short notice. As soon as the sun's rays weaken and perhaps the wind dies down at the same time, all the coating lines would have to be shut down again as quickly as possible. What sounds like an imaginative April Fool's joke is unfortunately not one.

No production line that has to process or manufacture something on time and is under a certain amount of competitive pressure could still operate economically under such conditions. Unless the state steps in and starts subsidizing companies. That, in turn, would be a step towards a state-imposed planned and scarcity economy. History shows more than clearly what happens when political authorities intervene excessively in economic processes and markets.

And despite the economically painful energy policy, we are currently emitting up to 700 million tons of_CO2 per year - more than twice as much carbon dioxide as many other economies in Europe. Objectively speaking, it is difficult to understand how our "green" fixated politicians can justify this to themselves and in the context of the energy transition.

There is no doubt that the transition to renewable energies is important and the industry is largely prepared to go down this path. This can be seen, for example, in the interview with a major automotive supplier in mo issue 10/2024 from page 10, but other articles on the subject of production efficiency and sustainability also underpin the industry's active participation in this balancing act: The change must be economically viable to implement. In a globally oriented industry, planned-economy thinking patterns cannot be the answer to current challenges.

While companies in other countries can continue to rely on inexpensive and still reliable energy sources - or are already doing so again - German industry is facing extremely tough times due to the ideologically prescribed energy policy. Nevertheless, our country has a long tradition of developing the most advanced technologies and practicing the art of engineering. In this respect, there is good reason to hope that we will be able to take the necessary steps towards a successful future despite the very adverse circumstances.