Status: 03/10/2023 08:29 a.m
At the height of the gas crisis, the federal government allowed utilities to bring shut-down coal-fired power plants back onto the market. Since then, a total of 14 systems have been offering electricity again – and some of them run around the clock.
In order to combat the acute gas crisis last summer, a total of 14 coal-fired power plants and one mineral oil power plant have been reactivated or, contrary to original plans, have not been shut down. This emerges from an overview by the Federal Network Agency. All affected power plants are still on the market
A federal government regulation allows the sale of electricity from reserve power plants that are fired with hard coal or oil until the end of March 2024. A spokesman for the authority said there was nothing today to indicate that market use would end prematurely. Whether the production of electricity is worthwhile for power plant operators depends, among other things, on current wholesale electricity prices.
Reduced performance with a lot of wind and solar power
A spokesman for the Essen-based energy company Steag Power confirmed that the company is still active in the electricity market with the coal-fired power plants it has recovered or is still in operation. These power plants usually ran around the clock. Depending on the demand for electricity, they would also be operated at times with reduced output, for example when there is a lot of wind or solar power in the grid and additional coal-fired power is not needed to ensure security of supply.
The coal-fired power plants temporarily brought back by the Uniper Group are also in commercial use, as a spokesman said: “As long as this is necessary and legally possible, these power plants are available.” The utilization is essentially dependent on the market conditions and can change accordingly at short notice, he emphasized. Uniper wants to use the regulation for another coal-fired power plant at the end of May, which should then not go into reserve.
Lignite blocks allowed until the end of 2023
Five lignite blocks from the so-called supply reserve were also allowed to return to the market for a limited period. The permit is initially valid until the end of June 2023.
As a result, according to the Federal Statistical Office, the proportion of electricity generated in Germany and fed into the grid from coal-fired power plants rose to a third last year. Around 60 percent of the coal power was generated from lignite and around 40 percent from hard coal.