German energy provider STEAG closes hard coal plant at company’s founding location

The growing importance of wind and solar power generation in Germany leads to the shutdown of another coal plant, Jürgen Flauger writes in Handelsblatt. Energy provider STEAG will close the hard coal-fired power plant at its founding location in Lünen in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). STEAG started retiring the first generating units at the location in 2015, as the German power market has been “flooded” with renewable energy sources, Flauger says. “Environmentalists might cheer over the shut-down of the old coal plant,” he writes, adding that “this trend could be dangerous for supply security” in times of little wind and sunshine. The plant in Lünen “was not in operation very often, but it has been recurrently needed during the winter months”.

Read the article in German here (paywall).

See the CLEW factsheet Coal in Germany for more information.