Gas should be saved
Coal kilns are available again as a reserve in winter
October 4, 2023, 3:52 p.m
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The federal government is putting several coal-fired power plants back into standby mode. Since the winter is cold and gas could become scarce, the reactors can be started up again to produce electricity. The ministry wants to develop proposals to compensate for any pollutant emissions.
In the event of an energy shortage, the federal government wants to bring mothballed lignite-fired power plants back online this winter. The cabinet approved the release of the power plants from October to the end of March 2024, as the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced. The aim is for these systems to replace gas power plants and thus save scarce fuel. According to the ministry, the participation of these power plants in the electricity market is linked to the validity of the gas alert level or the gas emergency level.
In the wake of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the almost complete stop of gas deliveries from Russia, reserve lignite power plants with a total of 1.9 gigawatts of output were reactivated last winter. However, lignite power plants emit significantly more CO2 than gas power plants.
“The supply reserve will be reactivated in order to save gas in electricity generation and thereby prevent gas supply bottlenecks in the 2023/2024 heating season,” explained the Federal Ministry of Economics. “The goal of completing the coal phase-out ideally in 2030 remains unaffected, as do the climate goals.” The regulation does not require the approval of the Federal Council.
According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, an evaluation report from the government also comes to the conclusion that both the temporary return to the market of power plants from the network reserve and a renewed temporary call-up of the power plants from the supply reserve are, individually and together, suitable for effectively replacing natural gas power generation in the coming winter and meeting the need for reduce natural gas overall.
After this reactivation of the power plants expires on March 31, 2024, the Ministry of Economic Affairs wants to check whether and how many additional greenhouse gas emissions were emitted as part of the application of the law. The ministry will then make proposals by June 30, 2024 as to which measures can be used to compensate for these additional emissions.