Germany is planning to review whether it should reactivate standby coal-fired power plants in an effort to bring down energy prices that have remained elevated since the outbreak of war in the Middle East, Bloomberg News reported.
Lawmakers from the conservative party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, along with their coalition partner, the Social Democrats, agreed to the move as part of a package of energy measures following talks in parliament on Friday.
This move marks a reversal of Germany's earlier efforts, and comes nearly five years after the German government and regional leaders agreed on a plan to phase out coal-fired power stations by 2038.
What does the development means for Germany? The review shows that Europe’s biggest economy may again fall back on brown coal (lignite), which is also considered dirty fossil fuel, during times of crisis. Before it planned to phase-out the use of coal, it powered about one-third of Germany's electricity, with more than half of that relying on burning lignite, BBC reported earlier. Germany was also the world's biggest lignite producer.
The nation has been forced to acquire energy at higher prices ever since it lost Russian pipeline gas supplies in 2022, and now heavily relies on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) shipments.
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“We face a problem when we look at the markets over the long term, if prices remain high — not just for oil, but also for gas,” said Sepp Müller, vice chair of the governing conservative party’s parliamentary group.
“That is why we are asking the federal government to bring coal-fired power plants back online from reserve status in order to reduce overall gas consumption,” he was quoted as saying by Bloomberg News.
Review of the request underway The Economy Ministry and the energy regulator have been directed to review the request, said Müller, who further added that a final decision will be announced within the next few weeks.
The review covers the reactivation of the reserve, currently made up of 8.8 gigawatts, with hard coal making up three quarters of the capacity. It also includes lignite plants which have been already decommissioned, the agency reported.