Dresden (dpa / sn) – Saxony’s Environment Minister Wolfram Günther is optimistic about the energy crisis for the rest of the winter. “Energy was saved and the gas storage tanks are well filled,” said the Green politician of the German Press Agency. Despite the continuing serious situation, one can therefore go through the winter with confidence. Nevertheless, the minister described the past year as “extremely challenging” for society as a whole, with energy prices rising as a result of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. “At the end of this year we can say: there was an enormous effort by citizens, society, business, politics and administration.”
In 2022, the main focus was on cushioning the rigors of the energy price crisis, saving energy and accelerating the expansion of renewable energies. Appropriate crisis structures also had to be set up. “Because they didn’t exist in Saxony until then,” says Günther.
The weighing up of climate protection and the temporary return to more coal-fired power was painful for the Green politician, stressed Günther. “But the top priority was always that the economy runs, that no heating has to stay cold, that the supply is secured.” That was successful.
However, Günther made it clear that every additional tonne of CO2 would have to be saved afterwards. Günther sees movement in Bavaria when it comes to expanding renewables. The realization has prevailed that the only way out of the crisis is to accelerate the expansion of renewables. He referred to the “acceleration package” for the expansion of wind energy that was recently passed in the state parliament. This should, for example, quickly implement the federal government’s expansion goals in Saxony. The renewables are “the cheap maker and our security guarantee against fossil autocrats.”
“Solar is making good progress. Wind energy is finally making progress, but still far too slowly. In the case of biogas, we were able to achieve significant simplifications with the federal government,” was Günther’s conclusion.
