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DIW Economic Bulletin 24 / 2015
Up until now, wind turbines have been designed to generate electricity at the lowest possible total cost, independent of this electricity’s market value. With an increasing penetration of wind power in the system, the market value of electricity generated by wind turbines is declining, since wind turbines tend to produce electricity at the same time. For this reason, it will be important in the future ...
2015| Nils May, Karsten Neuhoff, Frieder Borggrefe
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DIW Economic Bulletin 24 / 2015
2015
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DIW Economic Bulletin 22/23 / 2015
Available data suggest that, between 2006 and 2012, Germany may have suffered losses to the value of more than 20% of annual economic output on its net foreign assets. Were these presumed losses on German net foreign assets coincidental or can they be attributed to deeper causes? Over time, fluctuating asset valuations are nothing unusual, per se. Losses can quickly turn into profits and vice versa. ...
2015| Guido Baldi, Björn Bremer
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DIW Economic Bulletin 22/23 / 2015
2015
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DIW Economic Bulletin 22/23 / 2015
The June 2015 shutdown of the Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant marks the shift into a new phase of the energy transition, in which all nuclear power plants in Germany will gradually be shut down by 2022. But even with the end of the commercial use of nuclear power, the lights in this country will not go out: As DIW Berlin’s calculations attest to, the electricity supply in Germany remains secure. ...
2015| Christian von Hirschhausen, Clemens Gerbaulet, Claudia Kemfert, Felix Reitz, Cornelia Ziehm
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DIW Economic Bulletin 22/23 / 2015
2015
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DIW Economic Bulletin 21 / 2015
2015
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DIW Economic Bulletin 21 / 2015
The 2014 reform of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (Erneuerbare-Energien- Gesetz, or EEG) entailed that a mandatory direct marketing of green electricity be introduced. According to this law, operators of larger wind turbines must sell their electricity production on the electricity market. In addition to the wholesale price they receive a floating market premium, which is based on the average market ...
2015| Thilo Grau, Karsten Neuhoff, Matthew Tisdale
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DIW Economic Bulletin 21 / 2015
2015
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DIW Economic Bulletin 20 / 2015
2015
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DIW Economic Bulletin 20 / 2015
In the wake of the European debt crisis, it has become clear that government bonds may actually be a risky form of investment. The Basel Committee and the Bundesbank have therefore opened an intense debate as to whether banks investing in EU government bonds should be subject to regulatory capital requirements in the future. Currently, banks do not need equity capital when investing in sovereign bonds. ...
2015| Dorothea Schäfer, Dominik Meyland
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DIW Economic Bulletin 20 / 2015
2015
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DIW Economic Bulletin 19 / 2015
2015
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DIW Economic Bulletin 19 / 2015
The energy transition will require considerable increases in energy efficiency, particularly in residential buildings. Financial support mechanisms, information and adviceprograms and dedicated training and certification of craftsmen are already in place to stimulate energy efficiency investment. Nevertheless, the required annual rate of thermal building refurbishment of around two percent is so far ...
2015| Claus Michelsen, Karsten Neuhoff, Anne Schopp
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DIW Economic Bulletin 19 / 2015
2015
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DIW Economic Bulletin 18 / 2015
2015
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DIW Economic Bulletin 18 / 2015
The G8 high school reform to reduce the total number of years spent at Gymnasium (Germany’s academic-track secondary school) has been more controversial than almost any other education reform in recent years. Although there are few reliable empirical findings on the effects of the G8 reform, several federal states are already considering a return to the old system, which required 13 years — rather ...
2015| Mathias Huebener, Jan Marcus
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DIW Economic Bulletin 18 / 2015
2015
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DIW Economic Bulletin 17 / 2015
2015
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DIW Economic Bulletin 17 / 2015
The German government plans to significantly increase the deployment of electric vehicles. What impact would this have on the country’s power system and carbon emissions? This question was addressed as part of a European research project analyzing various scenarios up to 2030. One of the key findings of the study is that total annual power consumption of the four to five million electric vehicles (depending ...
2015| Wolf-Peter Schill, Clemens Gerbaulet, Peter Kasten