Industry group BDEW says Germany cannot rapidly shut down coal and nuclear plants

A rapid decommissioning of fossil and nuclear power plants in Germany “poses the risk of knowingly causing an undersupply of guaranteed capacity by 2023 the latest”, says the Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) in a response to an analysis by environmental NGO Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND). The NGO says Germany can take the most climate-damaging coal power stations off the grid by 2020 while also accelerating its nuclear exit without putting supply security at risk,  an assessment which BDEW head Stefan Kapferer called “incomprehensible”. The reduction of guaranteed capacity continued “unabated” even without additional schemes, the BDEW says, reiterating its April analysis. The industry lobby group says Germany could not rely on neighbouring countries once guaranteed capacity no longer matches demand since those too are reducing capacity and have similar demand patterns to Germany.

Read the press release in German here.

See the CLEW factsheet How can Germany keep the lights on in a renewable energy future? for