Coal plant operators should be compensated, but reasonably – opinion

The operators of Germany’s coal plants should receive some compensation for closing facilities in line with the exit plan proposed by the country’s coal commission, but demands must be reasonable, Klaus Stratmann writes in an op-ed for Handelsblatt. Even though the German parliament’s research service said it could find no legal basis for paying plant operators, the coal exit commission included “mutually agreed” compensation payments in its proposal for a good reason, Stratmann says. “This would quickly bring legal certainty,” he writes, adding that while many coal plants are old, they still have a license to operate that would effectively be taken away from them if plants are taken off the grid soon. However, “the operators know that they must not gamble too hard,” he says. “If they don’t agree on a deal, the courts will decide what happens – and they are unlikely to grant them a large compensation.”