The largest power company in Germany has agreed to end coal-based electricity generation by the end of the decade. The agreement signed with the government also postponed decommissioning of two coal plants to boost domestic generation during the energy crisis.
The agreement was signed by power company RWE and the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Action, and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The decision brought the end of coal forward by eight years. The company stated that it expected to leave 280 million tonnes of coal in the ground as a result, and therefore keep an equivalent 280 million tonnes of CO2 out of the atmosphere.
The two coal power plants, Neurath D and E, were due to be decommissioned at the end of 2022, but this has been deferred to 31 March 2024.
A spokesperson for the company said, “In order for the coal phase-out to be possible, the energy transition must be so far advanced by 2030 that Germany’s security of supply is not at risk. This requires a massive expansion of wind and solar power plants, storage facilities and additional secured capacity in the form of state-of-the-art gas-fired power plants that can be operated with hydrogen in the future. The German government intends to create a framework for the construction of these plants in order to facilitate the necessary investments.
“RWE will play a major role in driving forward the expansion of these modern technologies. As one of the world’s leading companies in renewable energies, the company will invest more than €50 billion gross globally in the expansion of its green core business by 2030, €15 billion of which is earmarked for Germany.”
The company stated that it was already in line with the Paris Climate Agreement prior to this agreement, but the changes have brought its future operations down from the 2°C global warming path, in line with the 1.5°C of warming path.
Markus Krebber, CEO of RWE said, “Security of supply is the order of the day. At the same time, climate protection remains one of the key challenges of our time. RWE supports both: in the current crisis, we are contributing to security of supply in Germany by temporarily increasing the use of our lignite-fired power plants and are thus also helping to displace gas from electricity generation.”
