Pay fossil power plants for flexibility, says energy lobby head

Fossil power plants are disappearing from the market too quickly when they are still needed to supply the country with power on days with little sun or wind, writes Daniel Wetzel in Die Welt. “At the moment, the bad economic framework conditions lead to quite a few conventional power plants being registered for decommissioning or taken off the grid,” said Stefan Kapferer, head of utilities lobby BDEW. He proposes to pay fossil plant operators for supplying “system services” like the flexibility with which facilities can be ramped up and down according to the presence of renewable power. “The power plants currently supply contributions to stabilise the grid, which they are not paid for. These must receive a price tag in the future power market,” said Kapferer. State secretary in the federal economy ministry Rainer Baake does not see the need for this. He expects rising power prices on the wholesale market when fossil plants disappear, writes Die Welt. This would in turn provide the incentive to invest in new power plants and the market would solve the problem by itself.

Read the article in German here.

For background read the CLEW factsheet How can Germany keep the lights on in a renewable energy future? and the CLEW dossier The power market and the energy transition.