End of nuclear no threat to Bavaria's power supply security – state minister

The end of nuclear power production in Germany in 2022 will not compromise the electricity supply of southern economic powerhouse state Bavaria, the state's economy minister Hubert Aiwanger said in an article in the newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine. "No, the lights won't go out," Aiwanger said, arguing that Bavaria "has more gas capacity in its backyard than what is taken off the grid in nuclear capacity." The minister from the Free Voters party said Germany could always rely on power imports from its European neighbours. As these often produce electricity with coal or nuclear plants, Aiwanger said the market would decide what imported power is made with. Aiwanger presented dozens of individual measures to improve the state's energy transition performance, such as boosting the number of combined heat and power (CHP) installations, more hydro power and biomass, as well as 300 new wind turbines by 2022.

In an energy transition progress ranking of Germany's federal states, Bavaria gained the third place and even scored best in terms of deploying renewable energy, especially thanks to its high use of solar power and bioenergy. However, strict distance rules for wind turbines in the state have meant that expansion of one of the most important renewable energy sources has practically come to a standstill. Calls for prolonging nuclear power use beyond 2022 to avoid supply shortages have been repeatedly rejected by plant operators as well as the government.