Monday, December 6th, 2021
To realize traffic light plans
Study: Much more gas-fired power plants are needed
On the way to a more climate-friendly energy mix, the future federal government wants to build gas-fired power plants. According to a study, the traffic light plans require a great deal of effort: the new power plants required by 2030 must therefore deliver a performance that theoretically corresponds to that of 23 nuclear power plants.
According to a study, the energy policy plans of the Ampel Coalition require a significant expansion of the construction of new gas-fired power plants and renewable energy. As the “Handelsblatt” reported, according to calculations by the Energy Industry Institute (EWI) at the University of Cologne, new gas-fired power plants with an installed capacity of 23 gigawatts (GW) will have to be built by 2030. Mathematically, this corresponds to the output of 23 nuclear power plants.
At the Federal Network Agency, 2.3 gigawatts of gas power plant capacities are currently listed as planned expansion until 2023. According to EWI, this capacity would have to increase tenfold by 2030 in order to achieve the goals of the future federal government from the coalition agreement. “This is without question a feat of strength,” said EWI researcher Max Gierkink the business medium. In addition, an expansion of renewable energies is necessary on a scale that has never been seen before.
The photovoltaic capacities alone are expected to increase from currently 54 GW to 200 GW by 2030. That means an annual net increase of 14.6 GW by 2030. The previous record comes from 2012. According to EWI, 7.9 GW were achieved at that time. “It must be clear to everyone: the renewable energy targets of the coalition agreement are extremely ambitious,” said the general manager of the German Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW), Kerstin Andreae.
According to the coalition agreement, 15 million e-cars will be rolling on German roads by 2030. According to EWI, if this goal is to be achieved, around 17 out of 20 newly registered cars would have to be purely battery-electric vehicles by 2025.