In July 2011 the Bremer Energie Institut completed a project investigating the future of European power generation funded by the Hans-Böckler-Foundation. The project focused on the implications of European investment conditions for employment in the German power sector.

The study is motivated by the observable transition of electricity generation in Europe. The change is driven by the need for replacement and renewal of generation assets as well as by the ambitious EU targets for expansion of renewable electricity generation in EU member states. Companies act in a liberalized European market for energy and make their investment decisions primarily driven by economical considerations. Against this background not only labour unions worry about the impact of investment conditions in Germany and also in Europe on the employment in the German power sector.

A previous scoping study condensed the central research questions to: how can good framework conditions for the power sector be established that foster investment decisions with positive regional employment effects in Germany? The project aimed to derive recommendations for German energy policy and for the German energy industry. The investigation is based on case study analysis of the investment conditions for the power sector in Germany, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Poland and the Slovak Republic. The results were complemented by expert interviews. The project duration was 1.5 years.

The final report (German) and the accompanying report (German) that includes the expert interviews are available for download (only in German).