Germany to reactivate several coal-fired power plants for the upcoming winter

Germany intends to bring several frozen brown coal-fired power plants back onto the electricity market in the winter to ensure that Europe’s largest economy continues to operate when demand for electricity reaches its peak.

The German government press service as saying that the German government issued an order on Wednesday to allow the reactivation of power plants belongs to RWE and LEAG companies.

Last year, the energy crisis forced Germany to rely more heavily on burning coal to produce electricity after Russia stopped gas supplies via pipelines to Germany.

Germany’s abandonment of its last nuclear reactors in the spring is expected to limit energy supplies even during this winter, reducing these supplies without additional support.

Pursuant to the German government’s decision, the possibility will be provided for power generation plants located in the supply reserve network to participate in the electricity market for a limited period from the beginning of October 2023 until March 31, 2024.

What is meant by the supply reserve network is brown coal-fired power plants.

The reserve network will be reactivated again to save the use of gas in generating electricity and thus avoid supply bottlenecks in the next heating period.

This backup network was actually active from early October 2022 until the end of June 2023.

According to the German Ministry of Economy, these stations are currently kept in a state of readiness for operation in anticipation of an order to recall them.