Green Party urges “tailor-made” grid expansion that accounts for coal exit

The German Green Party has called for an adjusted grid expansion plan in Germany that accounts for a drastically reduced coal power capacity as well as the foreseeable progress in storage technology and demand-side management. In a letter seen by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Greens urge Germany’s economy and energy minister Peter Altmaier to “not build any power line that we don’t need” to minimise the impact on citizens and the environment. The party says Altmaier should “clarify” the amount by which the necessary grid capacity could be reduced by other technological solutions and what the grid would have to look like to enable a complete transition to renewable energy sources.