Germany’s energy industry believes that the new government should ‘largely adopt the previous government’s plans for building new gas power plants’ to ensure a rapid back-up for the growing share of renewables, reports online agency Clean Energy Wire.
The Federation of German Energy and Water Industries says that the country’s new economy and energy minister, Katherina Reiche (Christian Democratic Union), should use the 2022 draft for the Power Plant Security Act, which was prepared by her predecessor, the Green’s Robert Habeck, as a blueprint to ensure that no time is lost in launching the necessary auctions. “We strongly support the minister in very quickly paving the way for the construction of new steerable capacity,” said BDEW head Kerstin Andreae.
Given that more steerable generation capacity will drop out of the market on the path towards the country’s planned coal exit by 2038 at the latest, companies need a clear framework to initiate investments in the required gas plants. Using the previous government’s draft, which has already been agreed by the European Commission’s state aid watchdog, and adapting it where necessary could greatly accelerate the groundwork that companies can build on, Andreae argued.
“If auctions were to start at the beginning of 2026, it can be assumed that the first new power plants could go into operation at the end of 2030 or the beginning of 2031. That is why it is so important that we act quickly now,” she added. “Our goal is: as little adaptation of the draft as possible and as much adaptation as necessary,” to secure investor confidence as well as consent by the European Commission, the BDEW’s head declared, following a consultation of its members.
Robert Habeck’s draft had initially proposed the construction of 12.5 GW of new gas plant capacity. The new government’s coalition treaty revised up this figure to 20 GW, which is likely to require new negotiations with the EU. BDEW stressed that relieving investing companies from the pressure to follow a strict conversion timetable towards hydrogen would be a prerequisite for investors, as many of the factors influencing the switch are beyond their own influence, for example the availability of the alternative fuel or sufficient demand from buyers.
Under Habeck’s plans, the new plants were meant to use green hydrogen at a later stage in order to cut emissions. The new government has said it plans to allow carbon capture (CCS/CCU) for gas plants.
