Energiewende – an Herculean task

To implement a project successfully, we need to have a plan. The notion of a »master plan« has fallen out of favour in political debate: for some people, it is too redolent of a planned economy. But there would never have been a moon landing without meticulous planning of the Apollo mission. And the Hercules project is far more important. It requires careful planning to ensure that the investment decisions taken are the right ones and the project meets the objectives that have been set.

And yes, there is a master plan! Over the past few years, the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology IEE (formerly Fraunhofer IWES) has worked out, in ever more detail, the future total final energy demand across all consumption sectors in Germany and has used this as a basis for determining the requisite energy generation systems and supply infrastructure. The entire project plan is broken down schematically into 12 »Herculean« tasks.