If you lined up a hundred Germans and asked how electrical power gets to their house....they'd have generally the same answer. A commercial company (a number of them) create power by thermo methods, natural gas, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, and hydro plants. They would then say that the federal government establishes a strategy and the system....up until the recession 'hit'....worked.
Around a decade ago....the nuke angle got openly discussed, and the national strategy was to end it. In the same time frame, the gov't also discussed ending coal-fired energy plants.
All of this was leading toward renewable energy emphasis. However, to make this angle work....the back-up method was always leading toward natural gas....which the Russians eagerly sold the Germans.
So here is this company in the NW of Germany....RWE, and they mine coal (open-pit) to supply the remaining coal plants. Based on analysis....there's a area there rich in coal, and they made up a deal with the NRW state government. The negotiation talk? For the state....the Green Party were at the table.
RWE basically had to figure a massive man-made lake into the final deal....to appease the Green Party enthusiasts. Behind that....the Greens knew this was the era when the coal mining was concluding. At the time of the deal.....no one saw coal extending out....it was coming to an end.
So this village (fewer than 10 residents left in 2022)...was the final point in this expansion. RWE would mine the Lutzerath area.
The activists? They decided to make this a 'battle' to the end, and turn this into a massive PR event.
Public TV? Oddly, they took the opportunity to hype the message/brand of the activists. Some viewing the TV action/interviews/hype...would suggest that it resembled old DDR and propaganda themes.
The police? They were dragged into a highly violent situation, with rocks, stones and fireworks being used as 'weapons'. They would counter by bringing in the water-cannons.
Where this leads back to? There's a national strategy on electricity....which the activists don't want to engage upon or note the value of having reasonable cost power. The old strategy required Russian natural gas....to make the whole gimmick work, and with the war going on....that whole strategy crumbled.
What I pay today for a Megawatt hour of electricity? It's about three times what I paid in the spring of 2021. Briefly (3 months ago)....there was the threat going on where I might have been forced into paying near six times the rate of spring 2021.
So this whole activist and demonstration business is because a national electrical strategy evolved (falling apart), and the 'friendly' Russians....well....they just aren't that friendly.
Footnote: at the end of December 2022....the Megawatt power rate was around 250 Euro....compared to 49 Euro in January of 2019. I should also note (with mid-2022 rates), Germany was number three on expensive electrical cost, with Denmark and Belgium ahead. Added note, as December closed out.....Italy surged up and became the biggest European importer of electricity, and the Megawatt power rate was near 295 Euro.
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