German ministry delays assessment of coal phase-out impacts by another year

Germany’s Ministry for Economic Affairs will delay the release of a report on the impact of shutting down coal-fired power plants on energy security, electricity prices and climate targets. According to Handelsblatt, this is stated in a letter from Michael Kellner, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, addressed to members of the Bundestag’s committees on Economic Affairs and on Climate Action and Energy.

According to the newspaper, an internal document from Kellner says the planned report, which is required by law under the Coal Phase-out Act, will probably be postponed until spring 2025. That would be almost three years later than its originally planned release in summer 2022. Kellner says the main factors behind the delay are the energy crisis and work on the ministry’s planned power plant strategy, which has also been delayed.

Michael Kruse, an energy policy expert for the Free Democrats (FDP), a party in the governing coalition, said the Ministry for Economic Affairs would violate the Coal Phase-out Act by delaying the report, putting Germany’s phase-out of coal at risk.

The act in question entered into force in August 2020 and sets out a process for phasing out coal-fired power generation by 2038. Under the act, a number of coal-fired power plants have already been decommissioned. To prevent plant closures from having unexpected consequences for security of supply and price developments, the act provides for a series of reviews.

One of these reviews is the report mentioned above on the impact of shutting down coal-fired power plants on energy security, electricity prices and climate targets. Further reviews are scheduled for 2026, 2029 and 2032.

The previous government approved 2038 as the official date for the shutdown of Germany’s coal-fired power plants. The current coalition, led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, planned to bring that date forward, ideally to 2030. Politicians from federal states dependent on the coal industry and representatives of the energy sector said the earlier target year cannot realistically be achieved unless supporting measures are accelerated, such as building power plants to replace coal-fired ones.