Resolute renewables expansion will reduce power price and emissions amid coal exit – report

An ambitious and steady expansion of renewable energy sources can reduce wholesale power prices and carbon emissions in Europe while Germany phases out coal-fired power production, an analysis commissioned by power provider Greenpeace Energy has found. For every ten terawatt hours (TWh) of additional renewables capacity, the power price will fall by 60 eurocents per megawatt hour (MWh) by 2022, and European CO2 emissions will drop by 4.6 million tonnes in the same year, the company says in a press release. “These figures underpin how much sense it makes to build additional wind and solar power installations on former coal mines, which will provide an enormous potential for construction sites in the context of the brown coal (lignite) exit,” Greenpeace Energy’s Sönke Tangermann said.

The effects of Germany’s planned coal exit on power prices are heavily disputed. Industry representatives warn that prices will rise and this will damage companies that have to compete internationally. On the other hand, observers like think tank Agora Energiewende* say that ending coal will lead to cheaper power prices in the medium term and will make German companies even more competitive.

*Like the Clean Energy Wire, Agora Energiewende is a project funded by Stiftung Mercator and the European Climate Foundation.