Jochen Flasbarth, head of German environment agency Umweltbundesamt UBA, has been reported by news agency DPA as saying that Germany does not at present require additional coal-fired power plants beyond those currently under construction. This conclusion, he said, resulted from an analysis of the entire German power plant fleet.
He said “There is also no danger of power cuts in the wake of the loss of around 8000 MW of nuclear capacity in Germany, with increased renewables production, energy efficiency measures and new fossil fuel plants already under construction making up the shortfall.”
While Germany is facing the decommissioning of 6600 MW of fossil-fuelled power plants in the coming three years, new capacity totalling 12 500 MW is already under construction and expected to come online in the same period, the analysis has shown. Therefore new fossil fuelled capacity will not be required before the end of the decade.
The UBA is a government agency under the wing of the German environment ministry BMU.
