Germany’s “Heat Hammer” Set to Demolish National Energy Supply
As if its obsession to fully convert the nation’s energy supply system to “renewables” by 2030 were not enough, the German government also plans to mandate the replacement of gas-powered heating systems by heat pumps. Their number is supposed to increase six-fold, up to total of six million pumps, with the electricity to operate them being provided to a significant extent by the same coal-powered technology which the government wants to shut down by 2030. This comes on top of the plan to double the total electricity supply during the 2030s.
National electricity consumption, or payload, amounted to a total of 484.2 terawatt hours in 2022. By 2030, it would have to rise to 750 TWh, according to the federal government’s own forecast – i.e., an increase of over 37%. Securing all of this with “renewables” alone, supplemented perhaps by a bit of LNG to replace the natural gas from Russia, is illusory, particularly if it entails, as now planned, the construction of 120,000 km of overland power lines to bring wind power from the North Sea to the south of Germany. Critics have pointed out that the heat pump plan, including all its aspects, would cost Germany some €600 billion.
Therefore, rather than entering a green energy paradise, the country is headed for power rationing. And in spite of the many assurances that things will work out, that’s just what the government is planning. Under the Energy Industry Act, electricity consumption by appliances close to the consumer could be shut off to avoid overloads of the national power grid. And heat pumps would only benefit from government subsidies if they are built with special interfaces that allow the government to switch them off by remote control, likely with no advance warning to consumers.
As all these aspects have been leaked in the media, a huge public debate has broken out over the heat pump issue. As a result, the FDP, the liberal party in the tripartite government coalition, felt compelled to slow down the government’s legislative plans by posing 77 questions to the Economic Ministry of Green leader Robert Habeck — whose personal ratings in recent opinion polls have plummeted in recent weeks, contributing to the drop in the Green Party’s ratings overall. The popularity of the SPD plunged to 18% in the most recent poll, while the government’s most severe critic, the Alternative for Germany party, went up to the same level, for the first time, and the Green Pary sunk to a mere 15%. If the FDP doesn’t stick to its guns and stop the Energy Industry Act, it may soon become irrelevant.
This has not gone unnoticed outside of Germany. The British Telegraph ran a nasty, but insightful commentary, by Jeremy Warner on June 2, dubbing the heat pump plan “Boilergeddon”, a pre-programmed catastrophe that has provoked an “open revolt” among voters and will likely force the government to back down. All the more so, as Germany is “stubbornly pursuing the self harm” of a total exit from nuclear power.
