“NRW Minister Johannes Remmel: Turn mines into power plants”

The government in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) promotes the development of a coal mine into a pumped storage power plant after the mine's closure in 2018, it said in a press release. NRW environment minister Johannes Remmel said during a visit to the RAG mine Prosper Haniel in Bottrop that NRW and the federal government will spend 850,000 euros to jumpstart the project. “North Rhine-Westphalia is an energy state and we want it to stay that way in the future,” he said. “Large storage areas must be a considerable part of the future renewable energy system.” He noted that: “The vision of an underground pumped storage facility can be an important building block for the transformation of our energy system.” The decision comes on the heels of a study by the Universitätsallianz Ruhr (UA) showing that the mine is suited to the technology. Further studies are needed ahead of a final decision on the conversion.

Find NRW's press release in German here and read more about the study here.

Read an article in German the Sueddeutsche Zeitung about the plans here.

Read a CLEW dossier about new technologies for the Energiewende here