Mehrum was the first hard coal-fired power plant to be brought back from reserve in the wake of the energy crisis in August 2022 in order to force natural gas out of the market. Now it is finally shut down.
The Mehrum coal-fired power plant will finally go offline on Maundy Thursday. After 20 months in reserve operation, the system will now be shut down again, explained managing director Armin Fieber when asked by the dpa news agency. “On Maundy Thursday we will produce electricity from coal for the last time.” This means that coal-fired power generation will end three days before the previously set deadline of March 31, up to which the plant was allowed to participate in the electricity market through an exception.
In August 2022, Mehrum was the first of 14 hard coal power plants nationwide that were brought back from reserves during the energy crisis, including the Heyden power plant (Uniper) in Petershagen. Since then, the Mehrum plant in the Peine district, which was originally shut down at the end of 2021, has been supplying electricity again.
However, it wasn’t consistent, as Fieber explained: “That depended on electricity prices. There were phases of production and also phases of downtime.” In the last days of operation, the plant was prepared for decommissioning and containers with operating materials were specifically emptied.
Measure should displace natural gas
A federal government regulation allowed the sale of electricity from reserve power plants that are fired with hard coal or oil until the end of March 2024. The measure was intended to force natural gas out of the electricity market.
Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) had repeatedly described the return of climate-damaging coal-fired power plants as bitter news with a view to climate protection. However, the return was unavoidable because of the consequences of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine on gas supplies.
Remaining blocks from the network at the end of the deadline
There will be no return from the reserve, added Managing Director Fieber. The Mehrum power plant, which belongs to the Czech energy company EPH, will now be demolished. “Preparations are already underway.” Instead, according to the operator’s plan, a new gas power plant will be built there. The Mehrum hard coal power plant went into operation for the first time in 1965.
Before the deadline at the end of March 2024, other reserve power plants in addition to the Mehrum power plant had already been taken off the grid. For example, the hard coal power plant in Völklingen in February and Irsching 3 in December 2023. Of the 16 blocks that were reactivated as part of the Replacement Power Plant Provision Act, the rest are expected to be taken off the grid on time.
The Federal Network Agency is not worried about the electricity supply without the reserve power plants. “Security of supply is guaranteed,” says Fiete Wulff, spokesman for the Federal Network Agency, tagesschau.de for power supply without the reserve power plants. All supply forecasts assume that the power plants will no longer be on the market at the end of the deadline.