Saxony’s state premier says coal needed for at least another 30 years

Coal will continue to be an important component of Germany’s power supply for at least another three decades, Saxony’s state premier Michael Kretschmer told news agency Reuters. As an industrialised country, Germany “cannot afford to do without this domestic energy source”, Kretschmer argued. Coal mining regions such as Lusatia in Saxony would need at least 30 years to carry out a structural economic transition away from the fossil fuel, he said. Kretschmer called on the federal government to provide 1 billion euros to initiate this transition, and to refrain from announcing concrete exit dates for coal-fired power production, as these had often turned out to be false in the past. “What matters is what can be done economically,” he said.

Read the article in German here.

See the CLEW factsheets When will Germany finally ditch coal? and Coal in Germany for background.