Coal exit debate flares up / Mapping climate plans
Federal Environment Agency
“Coal-fired power production: 50 percent less by 2030 is possible – and necessary”
German coal-fired power production needs to be more than halved by 2030 if the country is to reach the climate targets spelled out in its Climate Action Plan 2050, according to the Federal Environment Agency (UBA). This is best achieved by switching off the oldest lignite and hard coal power plants, instead of increasing the price for CO2 emissions, argues a study by the Institute for Applied Ecology (Öko-Institut) commissioned by UBA.
The study compares different strategies to achieve 2030 targets, such as a maximum life span of coal-fired power stations of 40 years, a gradual and complete shutdown of the dirtiest lignite plants, an additional levy of ten euros for every tonne of CO2 produced with fossil fuels, and a limitation of coal plants’ full load hours of 4,000 hours per power station.
Find UBA’s press release in German here and the study in German (with an executive summary in English) here.
For background read the CLEW factsheet When will Germany finally ditch coal?
The Clean Energy Wire will publish an article on this topic later today.
Rheinische Post
“Gabriel: No race to end coal”
A concrete year for a German coal exit can't be specified, because of the many factors involved, according to economy minister Sigmar Gabriel, writes the Rheinische Post. “I don’t think much of this chase for phase-out dates,” which could easily lead to attempts to outdo each other, Gabriel said when visiting the lignite power plant Bergheim-Niederaußem. A coal exit by 2025 [as proposed by the Green party] was “completely illusory”. In any case, 50 percent less lignite would be extracted by 2030 due to the closure of large parts of Germany’s open pit mines, according to Gabriel. It made most sense to check in 2030 how well the creation of job alternatives and the energy transition had progressed and to adjust the exit tempo accordingly.
Read the article in German here.
For background read the CLEW factsheet When will Germany finally ditch coal?
The subsidies for natural gas introduced with the new combined heat and power regulation (CHP) put pressure on German hard coal-fired power generation in 2016, according to German Coal Importer Association (VDKi), reports Dow Jones Newswires. Consumption by hard coal power plants fell 6 percent to 36.4 million tonnes of hard coal equivalents, and imports fell 4 percent or 2.5 million tonnes, compared to 2015.