Until the end of May 2016 the closure of more than 9.4 GW of power plant capacity have been reported to the German regulator. Furthermore, the European Commission approved the state aid amounting to Euro 1.6 billion for the closure of several lignite power plants in Germany.
The power plant capacities for closure that have been reported to the Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA) since October 2015 rose by 250 MW. Roughly half of the 9436 MW of generating capacity registered for permanent cessation of operation is located in southern Germany. Along with the nuclear phase-out, the situation of generating capacity in this part of Germany might become tight. In total more than 5400 MW of capacity have already been closed, while about 2900 MW have been declared system-relevant by the transmission system operators. Those power plants are therefore not allowed to be closed. The map in figure 1 (BNetzA) depicts the locations of the expected power plant expansions and closures in Germany.
Source: GeoBasis-DE/BKG 2015
Figure 1: Location of realized and expected expansion and closure of power plants
Adding the notifications for temporary closure, a total of 14.5 GW of power plant capacity has been reported to the BNetzA. Gas power stations (7.2 GW) are the primary type of power plants being subject to those reports for closure, as the operators of these plants are hardly able to make profit amidst low wholesale electricity prices. With roughly 1.6 GW of capacity hard coal power plants claim the second-largest position. Figure 2 shows the reports for closure according to different energy carriers.
Source: BNetzA
Figure 2: Indicated power plant capacities to be closed (according to energy carriers)
The European Commission also approved of the state aid for the closedown of German lignite power plants. From October 2016 until October 2019 eight German lignite power plants are gradually to be shut down. The power plant operators will receive 1.6 billion Euro of financial aid from public funds in order to be compensated for lost profits due to the shutdown of the power plants. Currently, Germany possesses roughly 21 GW of lignite power plant capacity out of which 13 percent are to be shut down. This measure saves 11 to 12.5 million tons of CO2.
