Economy minister proposes retiring 5 GW of lignite power capacity – sources

Economy and energy minister Peter Altmaier has proposed quickly retiring five gigawatts of lignite power generation capacity with a view to the country’s ongoing talks about a coal phase-out, sources told the Rheinische Post. In addition, he suggested that utility Uniper’s new hard coal plant in Datteln should not be connected to the grid, according to the report by Antje Höning und Birgit Marschall. Uniper said it would be foolish to continue the operation of older power plants instead of the relatively clean Datteln plant.
The Frankfurter Rundschau reported that the Green party looks set to increase its climate ambitions by calling for the immediate retirement of the country’s 20 most dirty power plants. Because of government inaction on coal, at least ten or eleven gigwatts of coal capacity must be switched off, according to a position paper by party head Annalena Baerbock and Oliver Krischer, deputy leader of the party’s parliamentary group. The paper also calls for an end to lignite mine extensions and speeding up the roll-out of renewables.
During last year’s unsuccessful coalition talks with the Greens and the pro-business FDP, Altmaier’s Christian Democrats (CDU) also proposed the retirement of five gigawatts and later agreed to retire seven gigawatts.

Read the Rheinische Post article in German here.

Find plenty of background in the article Commission watch – Managing Germany’s coal phase-out.