NRW state econ min proposes setting remaining coal power quantities instead of phase-out date

The economy minister in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Andreas Pinkwart, has proposed to allocate coal power plants a certain amount of electricity they are allowed to produce before they have to shut down instead of deciding a set date for Germany’s coal exit, report Helmut Bünder and Reiner Burger in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). “Setting remaining quantities for coal power could help make the phase-out more flexible so that it can be carried out in a socially and environmentally compatible manner,” Pinkwart told the newspaper. Another way would be to link the phase-out to limits on carbon dioxide emissions still allowed, he said. The proposal is similar to Germany’s nuclear phase-out plans before the Fukushima catastrophe in 2011, which allocated each plant an amount of electricity that it could produce before it had to be shut down.

Read the article (behind paywall) in German here.

For background, read the CLEW factsheet Germany’s coal exit commission and CLEW’s Commission watch – Managing Germany’s coal phase-out.