On Easter, Germany Shuts Down 7 Coal Power Plants

Seven coal-fired power plants in Germany were shut down for Easter, RWE and LEAG said on Sunday, DW reports.

Earlier, the German government restarted five mothballed plants located in the Rhineland mining region of West Germany, near the city of Cologne, to cope with winter gas shortages as Europe's largest economy sought to reduce its dependence on Russian gas. 

The move means that approximately 2,100 megawatts (MW) of lignite capacity will be taken out of service, operator RWE said.

Two other plants in Jenschwalde in the eastern state of Brandenburg, near the German capital Berlin, have also been closed after recently being restarted. These two plants were allowed to continue operating beyond their scheduled shutdown dates.

Germany's plans to reduce its dependence on coal to combat climate change were hit by Russia's military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The EU countries reduced their dependence on Russian gas in the first months after the start of the Russian war, which contributed to a sharp rise in energy prices.

To balance the situation, the German government decided to extend the life of some coal-fired power plants and temporarily restart other closed plants.

Germany also postponed the closure of several nuclear power plants as a contingency measure. The last three nuclear power plants were closed in April last year.

Now that the 2023/2024 winter season is over, the German grid operator has stated that it does not foresee any deterioration in the security of electricity supply as a result of the coal plant shutdown.

Germany's Ministry of Economic Affairs is legally obliged to review the increase in greenhouse gas emissions following its earlier decision to postpone the closure.

By the end of June, the ministry must propose measures to compensate for the additional emissions.

As previously reported by The Gaze, the EU is preparing to stop the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine.