Germany's coal exit on track, no forced closures needed

So many of Germany's coal-fired power plants are already slated to go offline that the country's Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) did not have to announce a ban on power plants this year, partly because of an increase in renewable energy. The high number of market-driven coal power plant closures meant that the 2027 target for reduced capacity had already been secured, said BNetzA in a statement. 2024 is the first year in which it has not been necessary to impose a ban to achieve the target since Germany's legally binding coal phase out began. The grid agency's forced closures are not immediately enforced. Plants have 30 months to go offline from the moment of the announcement. Auctioned closures also are not enforced immediately. That means that some of the plants which got the order in recent years -- or were successful in the auctions -- can still be in operation during the coming years until 2027.

Coal capacity is being underused because of the growing share of renewable energy in the mix, reported Table Media. The share of coal in the electricity mix has dipped from 48 percent nine years ago to 19 percent in the first half of 2024, Table said.

In July, the country's economy ministry confirmed to CLEW that the government would not make any political efforts to bring the 2038 statutory deadline for exiting coal forward, despite a coalition government agreement to phase out the fossil fuel ideally by 2030. Instead, economy minister Robert Habeck said operators could voluntarily switch off the climate-damaging power plants earlier as rising CO2 prices related to EU reforms would make coal-fired power plants increasingly unviable.