RWE and LEAG are switching off
Seven units of coal-fired power plants shut down
March 31, 2024, 4:28 p.m
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Germany must reduce its CO2 emissions while achieving energy security. Although the balancing act is difficult, seven units of particularly harmful coal-fired power plants can now be shut down. It’s not just people in Germany who benefit from this, says a Green Party politician.
At Easter, several coal-fired power plants in Germany went offline. A total of seven brown coal power plant blocks were shut down in the Rhenish mining district and in Brandenburg, as confirmed by the energy companies RWE and LEAG.
The closure of all blocks had already been planned earlier. In order to save natural gas in electricity generation during the energy crisis, the federal government took five blocks from the so-called supply reserve. Two further blocks were allowed to continue running beyond the originally planned shutdown date. At the end of winter 2023/24 it will finally be over. The network agency does not see any impairment of security of supply as a result of the closures.
Blocks of the Niederaußem and Neurath power plants in the Rhenish district had been taken out of security standby. They belong to the energy company RWE. In the Lusatian region, blocks E and F were brought back from the Jänschwalde power plant, which belong to the energy company LEAG. There were also two further units of the RWE Neurath power plant, whose operation was extended.
Enormous emissions from coal combustion
“In view of the worsening climate crisis, the closure of coal-fired power plants is an important measure to reduce greenhouse gases,” explained Green Party member of the Bundestag Kathrin Henneberger. The current shutdown is “a great success for climate justice and is happening in the knowledge of the historical and global responsibility for achieving our climate goals.” The emissions from burning coal in Germany are historically “enormous” and are among the central causes of the climate crisis, said Henneberger.
The phase-out of hard coal also means an end to imports from regions where the mining of hard coal has been associated with serious human rights violations and environmental destruction for decades. In Colombia, for example, Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities are most affected. In addition to forced relocations and water shortages, they are also affected by the health consequences of the mines.
The Federal Ministry of Economics is legally obliged to check how much additional greenhouse gas was emitted by the continued operation of coal-fired power plants. It must propose measures by the end of June to offset these additional emissions.