“The creeping end of coal”

Germany will inevitably scrap coal-fired power production even though the move has not yet been officially announced, Klaus Stratmann writes in Handelsblatt. Coal-fired generating units with an installed capacity of 4,772 megawatts – the equivalent of five nuclear power plants - have been slated for decommission in 2016, according to figures from the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur), Stratmann explains. “Politics is being outpaced by reality,” he writes, referring to a suggestion by the energy think tank Agora Energiewende* according to which the last coal-fired power plant will be shut down in about 2038 if 2016 trends continued.

Read the article in German here (behind paywall).

For further information, read this CLEW article on reduced coal use in Germany and this CLEW factsheet on When will Germany finally ditch coal?

*Like the Clean Energy Wire, Agora Energiewende is a project funded by Stiftung Mercator and the European Climate Foundation.