California governor Gavin Newsom made headlines earlier this month as he traveled Europe, conducting his own independent foreign policy, signing agreements with foreign countries.
From one Newsom press release,
Governor Newsom, German Environment Minister pledge further climate and environment cooperation at Munich Security Conference.
What could go wrong? Newsom issued a similar press release regarding the United Kingdom.
The Germany and California comparisons are striking. I mentioned the other day that California has America‘s 2nd-highest electricity prices, after the island-state of Hawaii.
Excluding island nations, Germany has the third-highest electricity prices in the world, after Italy and tiny Liechtenstein. The UK isn’t far behind.
How Germany ended up in this spot is (inevitably) described with a compound word, Energiewende.
Quoting from the German federal government,
The energy transition is our pathway into a future that is secure, environmentally-friendly, and economically successful. We are in the process of overhauling Germany’s energy supply, moving away from nuclear and fossil fuels towards renewables and better energy efficiency.
We have already achieved quite a lot, with almost one third of our electricity coming from wind, solar, biomass and hydropower. Renewable energy is a very important component of our electricity supply.
The key word missing above is “affordable.” Otherwise, it exactly describes California’s energy policy.
And it largely describes Minnesota’s energy policy, with one twist: Minnesota has kept its two nuclear power plants but banned the construction of any additional ones.
As with California, the official Minnesota-Germany energy partnership goes back more than a decade. For years the German federal government brought over delegations of Minnesota lawmakers and state officials to behold firsthand the wonder that was German energy policy.
Over the years that followed, Minnesota adopted new renewable-only energy policies, that are driving up the state’s electricity prices above the national median level.
Last month, the German Chancellor (prime minister) was quoted on the topic of energy policy,
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz admitted Wednesday that the country’s nuclear phase-out was a “serious strategic mistake,” telling business leaders that the country no longer has sufficient energy generation capacity. Speaking to the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Merz said Germany — which still aims to reach “net-zero” emissions by 2045 — is now paying the price of the decision through higher costs and heavy government intervention.
“It was a serious strategic mistake to phase out nuclear energy … we simply don’t have enough energy generation capacity,” Merz said.
Now he tells us. But it’s not too late for Minnesota to change course.