Status: 09/14/2022 2:20 p.m
Economics Minister Habeck wants to take the last German nuclear power plants off the grid by the end of the year. That meets with criticism. The ifo Institute has now calculated how an extension of the lifespan of the reactors would affect the price of electricity.
According to calculations by the Ifo Institute, a longer term for the three remaining German nuclear power plants until 2030 would significantly reduce the price of electricity in the coming year. The power plants could generate about four percent of the electricity in Germany in the coming year. Electricity would therefore also be four percent cheaper than if it were switched off. A year later, the price effect would still be a 1.2 percent reduction.
According to ifo calculations, continued use of nuclear power plants would only reduce the share of natural gas from 8.3 to 7.6 percent. “Because nuclear power does not replace natural gas 1:1, but above all coal in the short term,” said Ifo electricity expert Mathias Mier. At the same time, investments in photovoltaics and wind would be lower than without an extension of the service life.
Above all, gas-fired power plants offset fluctuations in demand and renewable energies. Nuclear power is unsuitable for this, and the cost structure also requires continuous operation. Since not all the determinants of future electricity consumption and in particular the availability of natural gas in winter are already known today, it could therefore make sense to keep the option of nuclear power open beyond a short-term extension of the service life in the coming year due to the crisis.
Different opinions collide
According to the original schedule, the three nuclear power plants are to be taken off the grid at the end of December as the last reactors in Germany. There has been a debate about extending the term for months. Opponents argue that this would be irrelevant to security of energy supply, since electricity, unlike gas, is not in short supply. However, there are fears that if there is a shortage of gas, many people could switch to electrical heating systems such as radiators and fan heaters. According to experts, the German power grid is not prepared for the mass deployment of such devices.
Based on the results of another stress test, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck announced last week that two of the three nuclear power plants still in operation in Germany would be transferred to a temporary operational reserve by the end of the year. As provided for in the nuclear phase-out law, they would thus be taken off the grid and no longer feed in electricity. However, they should serve as a reserve if it becomes necessary to stabilize the power grid.
Economists plead for continued operation
The so-called “business wise men” had already criticized Habeck’s plans yesterday. The nuclear reactors should continue to be operated “at least until the energy crisis has been sustainably overcome,” write the members of the Advisory Council for the Assessment of Overall Economic Development in an article for the “FAZ”. A reserve operation until mid-April next year is “not expedient”. The members of the committee write that “only the costs associated with the provision are incurred, without the benefit being realized from the operation”.