Government must act now to ensure sufficient secure power capacity in 2020s – BDEW analysis

Germany is quickly reducing its conventional power capacities, risking a lack of secure capacity by 2023 at the latest, says the energy industry association BDEW in an analysis of the country’s power plants. Germany currently has power overcapacities. The government must quickly create the conditions needed to guarantee sufficient secure capacity or flexibility in the 2030s, complete with a new market design, BDEW says. To ensure that the 2030 climate targets are met, the government must improve the regulatory framework for combined heat and power (CHP), energy storage, new gas-fired power stations, and grid expansion, and ensure planning security for investors, said BDEW head Stefan Kapferer. “Additional coal-fired power stations can only be taken off the grid in the 2020s if low-CO₂ replacement capacities are created,” said Kapferer. New gas plants are not built overnight, he noted. “2023 starts today.”

Find the press release in German here, and the analysis in German here, and find a Reuters article on the topic in English here.

For background, read the CLEW factsheet Germany’s energy consumption and power mix in charts.