The new German government "enlarged the move" and announced that the deadline for "coal return" was 8 years earlier
2021-11-26
On November 24, the three political parties of Germany's "traffic light alliance" - the Social Democratic Party (red), the Liberal Democratic Party (yellow) and the Green Party announced that they had reached a joint ruling agreement. This means that the new government has completed the negotiations on the formation of a cabinet.
The 177 page joint ruling agreement will be the main ruling program of the new German government, including many contents related to "combating climate change", including banning the sale of fuel vehicles in 2035 and achieving climate neutrality in 2045.
In the agreement, the part that can best reflect the determination of the new government to reduce emissions is the modification of the time for eliminating coal power.
The coalition agreement states that the ideal situation is to phase out coal power by 2030. This is 8 years ahead of the previous "complete elimination of coal-fired power generation in 2038".
The goal of coal withdrawal in 2038 is put forward in 2019.
In June of the previous year, in order to reach a social consensus on the coal phase out plan, the German federal government established the growth, structural change and employment Committee, which brought together representatives from environmental associations, scientists, trade unions, economic and energy associations and representatives from affected areas. The Committee submitted a report in January of the following year and recommended that coal-fired power generation be completely phased out by 2038.
In order to implement the coal return plan, the Committee proposed several sub objectives, including the proposal to close 12.5 million KW coal-fired power plants by 2022 and 25.6 million KW coal-fired power plants by 2030.
In addition, the committee also proposed that coal mining areas, coal miners, taxpayers and coal-fired power plant owners would receive billions of euros of transitional assistance. Germany also responded positively to the above suggestions. In May 2019, the government approved 40 billion euros of transitional economic assistance.
However, returning coal is not easy! Coal is the most abundant domestic energy in Germany. In 2020, Germany will remain the ninth largest coal producer in the world and the second largest producer in Europe.
According to the data of energy research think tank, from 2013 to 2020, German coal production was basically in a downward trend, especially after the closure of two hard coal mines at the end of 2018, German coal production fell sharply. But at present, Germany's energy system is still largely dependent on fossil fuels. In the total primary energy supply and final consumption, oil and natural gas are the largest energy sources, and coal is still the largest source of power generation.
Early coal withdrawal may bring challenges to Germany's domestic energy supply.
Germany has long had a highly secure power supply, but according to Bloomberg new energy financial data, in 2014, the excess electricity in the German power market was equivalent to 17% of the peak demand. The benchmark contract price of German electricity has fallen by more than 36% since the end of 2010. But then there was a "reversal".
Due to the rapid development of renewable energy, the standby power is becoming increasingly tense. In June 2019 alone, the German power grid found a serious shortage of available power for three consecutive days. At the peak of demand, the gap between supply and demand reaches 6 million KW. In order to ensure the security of the power grid, Germany needs to urgently arrange power imports from neighboring countries.
If new power generation facilities are not built, the standby capacity may be greatly reduced. Especially after a large number of existing thermal power units in Western and southern Germany are shut down, the industrial areas in the region will be affected by power shortage, and the future supply situation in Germany may be more severe.
In addition, in the case of high power demand but low renewable energy supply, the transformation from schedulable energy to intermittent renewable energy will also lead to new problems.
The 177 page joint ruling agreement will be the main ruling program of the new German government, including many contents related to "combating climate change", including banning the sale of fuel vehicles in 2035 and achieving climate neutrality in 2045.
In the agreement, the part that can best reflect the determination of the new government to reduce emissions is the modification of the time for eliminating coal power.
The coalition agreement states that the ideal situation is to phase out coal power by 2030. This is 8 years ahead of the previous "complete elimination of coal-fired power generation in 2038".
The goal of coal withdrawal in 2038 is put forward in 2019.
In June of the previous year, in order to reach a social consensus on the coal phase out plan, the German federal government established the growth, structural change and employment Committee, which brought together representatives from environmental associations, scientists, trade unions, economic and energy associations and representatives from affected areas. The Committee submitted a report in January of the following year and recommended that coal-fired power generation be completely phased out by 2038.
In order to implement the coal return plan, the Committee proposed several sub objectives, including the proposal to close 12.5 million KW coal-fired power plants by 2022 and 25.6 million KW coal-fired power plants by 2030.
In addition, the committee also proposed that coal mining areas, coal miners, taxpayers and coal-fired power plant owners would receive billions of euros of transitional assistance. Germany also responded positively to the above suggestions. In May 2019, the government approved 40 billion euros of transitional economic assistance.
However, returning coal is not easy! Coal is the most abundant domestic energy in Germany. In 2020, Germany will remain the ninth largest coal producer in the world and the second largest producer in Europe.
According to the data of energy research think tank, from 2013 to 2020, German coal production was basically in a downward trend, especially after the closure of two hard coal mines at the end of 2018, German coal production fell sharply. But at present, Germany's energy system is still largely dependent on fossil fuels. In the total primary energy supply and final consumption, oil and natural gas are the largest energy sources, and coal is still the largest source of power generation.
Early coal withdrawal may bring challenges to Germany's domestic energy supply.
Germany has long had a highly secure power supply, but according to Bloomberg new energy financial data, in 2014, the excess electricity in the German power market was equivalent to 17% of the peak demand. The benchmark contract price of German electricity has fallen by more than 36% since the end of 2010. But then there was a "reversal".
Due to the rapid development of renewable energy, the standby power is becoming increasingly tense. In June 2019 alone, the German power grid found a serious shortage of available power for three consecutive days. At the peak of demand, the gap between supply and demand reaches 6 million KW. In order to ensure the security of the power grid, Germany needs to urgently arrange power imports from neighboring countries.
If new power generation facilities are not built, the standby capacity may be greatly reduced. Especially after a large number of existing thermal power units in Western and southern Germany are shut down, the industrial areas in the region will be affected by power shortage, and the future supply situation in Germany may be more severe.
In addition, in the case of high power demand but low renewable energy supply, the transformation from schedulable energy to intermittent renewable energy will also lead to new problems.