Germany shutters seven coal power plants as energy crises eases
Seven lignite-fired power plant units with a combined generating capacity of 3.1 gigawatt will be shut down in Germany at the end of March after the plant’s planned decommissioning was postponed due to the 2022 energy crisis.
The seven coal plants will no longer be allowed to sell their electricity on the wholesale market. The Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) said that the shutdowns will not impact security of supply.
In March 2022 the German government decided to reactivate five coal plants and defer the shutdown of another two plants in anticipation of a decrease in Russian gas supplies.
This decision was extended for another winter in October 2023 as the supply of Russian gas fell and France’s nuclear fleet underperformed.
Burning coal is one of the most polluting ways of generating electricity. World leaders called for accelerating efforts to phase down unabated coal power at COP28 in the United Arab Emirates in December last year and the German government has set a deadline of 2030 to “ideally” exit coal.
But coal-based electricity generation is also ‘dispatchable’ meaning supply can be increased or reduced as required, fulfilling the role often played by gas by ensuring that power generation meets fluctuating demand.
While Germany’s electricity sector emissions dropped significantly in spite of the deferred closures, the German government vowed to calculate and offset the additional CO2 emissions linked to the seven extra plants.
In 2023, coal provided 26% of German power, down from 33% the year before at the peak of the energy crisis.
In western Germany the country remains on track to meet its 2030 deadline to exit coal. But experts say that a lack of funds for backup gas power plants could become an obstacle.
Read more with Euractiv
