Usable technology has been around for a long time. The real bottleneck is politics.

Per MWh, without subsidies or concessions, as of: 1st Hj 2020

(Image: Bloomberg NEF)

In our editorial meetings we often discuss whether a certain topic is not too economic or political – after all, we are a technology magazine. But unfortunately it is the case that many of the problems of the energy transition have no technical but political causes. And as long as technology is not the problem, better technology cannot be the solution.

Of course, today’s energy transition would not be possible without enormous advances in technology. In the year 192 when the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) came into force a feed-in tariff of more than 49 Cent per kilowatt-hour necessary for economical operation of photovoltaic systems. Today it has fallen below nine cents. Wind power has made similar progress. This steep learning curve is, however, the result of increased demand that was only created by politics. First politics, then technology.

Conversely, this means: It is quite brave to believe that technical advances would come automatically and solve all our problems, regardless of the political framework. A few percentage points more efficiency thanks to perovskite solar cells, more powerful wind turbines thanks to superconducting generators, better batteries thanks to new cathode materials – all of this is right and important. But it won’t make the energy transition a sure-fire success.

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