Germany plans to ready coal and oil power plants for gas emergency
Handelsblatt
The German government plans to oblige operators of coal- and oil-fired power plants to stand ready for a possible gas shortage this winter and to stock up on fuel in advance, business daily Handelsblatt reported. If gas runs short, the plants would replace gas-fired power stations, so that the remaining gas could go to industry and households, which cannot easily switch fuels.
“To ensure energy supply, in particular gas supply, additional generation capacity is to be made available to the power market as a precaution in order to save natural gas in power generation,” says a draft of a “law on keeping replacement power plants on standby” seen by the newspaper. Coal and oil are ideal for crisis preparation because they are available at short notice and their supply does not depend directly on the crisis region in the Gulf, the draft argues. The document is classified as restricted and is still being discussed within the government.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has upended global energy markets and raised fears of a new gas crisis in Germany, four years after Russia cut off most pipeline supplies following its invasion of Ukraine. German gas storage facilities missed this year’s filling target of at least 70 percent by early November, although the economy ministry insists supply for the winter is secure. This week, the government approved a strategic national gas reserve for future winters, which economy minister Katherina Reiche from the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said would “insure us not against high prices, but against crisis situations”.
Under the draft, the coal and oil plants would only be used if the government formally declares a gas shortage. Operators would have to keep enough coal to run at full output for 30 days, or enough oil for ten days, though these figures appear to be still under discussion, according to Handelsblatt. The rules would cover all coal and oil plants in Germany’s grid reserve, which are kept on standby to stabilise the power grid, as well as units due to close in 2026 or 2027 under the coal phase-out.
The law is meant to expire on 31 March 2028, as the government does not want to bring coal and oil plants back to the regular power market for good, Handelsblatt wrote. Coal is the most carbon-intensive source of electricity, so any large-scale use of the reserve plants would raise the power sector’s emissions.
The government already ordered fossil fuel power plants to be kept ready in 2022, in response to the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s attack on Ukraine. It made use of the same law, returning more than a dozen to the market plus several units from a separate supply reserve before the rules expired in March 2024, according to the article.
The position of the CDU’s coalition partner SPD is still unclear, Handelsblatt reported. Energy companies have called for reserve coal plants to return to the market to dampen prices. Green Party politician Michael Kellner said in March that it was wrong to hope that old coal plants would make Germany’s energy system more resilient.