Berlin welcomes festival of light amid dark energy predictions

As residents of a former Cold War frontline city, Berliners are no strangers to a big chill.

Ahead of the most uncertain winter in decades, however, not everyone in the German capital is cheering the Friday evening launch of the city’s annual Festival of Lights.

Until October 16th, artists will project light installations on to Berlin landmarks such as the Brandenburg Gate and TV tower under the motto “vision of our future”.

And this is in a city where its future energy needs are anything but certain.

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Berlin began worrying about its winter bills back in August, ending the night-time illumination of 200 public buildings. Since then it has reduced the water temperature in public pools and this winter will keep closed city-run saunas and other energy-intensive facilities.

After months of urging residents to save energy, not even the city Christmas lights are guaranteed. Berlin’s governing mayor Franziska Giffey earned national headlines after her stark warning on television that “rolling blackouts” cannot be ruled out in the months ahead.

The decision to press ahead regardless with a 10-day citywide light show prompted Berlin’s BZ tabloid to ask the mayor on Friday: “Watt are you thinking?”

No one in the Berlin city government is prepared to comment, referring press queries on to the private company behind the Festival of Lights.

With just 35 instead of the usual 70 illuminated landmarks, organisers say this year’s event will be more cost-effective than ever. By using the latest energy-saving LED technology and extinguishing the lights an hour earlier, at 11pm, organisers say they will cut their energy bill by 75 per cent on last year.

Festival organiser Birgit Zander insisted this is a good deal for the city as the installations consume 8,250kWh over 10 days. By comparison, she said, just one beer tent at the two-week Munich Oktoberfest consumes 200,000kWh — 300 times more than the entire Berlin festival.

“In these bleak times of bad news, we want to bring people a little joy with fascinating light art,” said Ms Zander.

Economic interests play a role, too. First established in 2005, the festival attracts 3 million additional visitors to Berlin in a traditionally quiet period.

Hours before the festival opened on Friday, with chancellor Olaf Scholz in Prague debating energy caps with other European Union leaders, Germany’s energy network supervisor warned that the country is still using too much gas.

“The situation can get very serious unless we can reduce significantly our gas usage,” said Klaus Müller, energy agency head, saying a 20 per cent cut in consumption was crucial.

Private households use some 40 per cent of Germany’s total gas, with the rest consumed by industry. About 15 per cent of this gas is used to generate electricity and with price hikes of 250 per cent forecast, one in three Germans fear they will not be able to afford their heating this winter.

That has prompted Berlin’s federal government to draft a €200 billion emergency energy plan, including a proposed gas price cap. A last-minute replacement for another unpopular plan, the new policy has drawn a hail of criticism from Germany’s neighbours. Though its details are unclear, they perceive the Berlin plan as a unilateral subsidy with potential to distort the single market.

Federal energy minister Robert Habeck, anxious to distract from the row over his last-minute policy U-turn, has instead pointed an angry finger at “astronomical” prices being charged by Norwegian energy firms.

Officials in Oslo replied that its 16 per cent increase in gas deliveries to Germany this year was “an important contribution to preventing an even worse energy crisis”.

Unlike, some Berliners mutter, the Festival of Lights.