The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy wants to promote its strategy “Electricity 2030” this autumn. It is meant to show a way towards the exit from coal, while having higher demand for power in other sectors.
According to state secretary Rainer Baake the exit from fossil energy generation has to be addressed. “We need an exit-strategy away from fossil structures”, Baake said (Source: Energate). “It is obvious that even our climate goals for 2030, 40, 50 are not compatible with existing coal-fired power plants” he added (Source: Montel). An exit from coal-fired power generation can therefore not be avoided. The impulse paper “Electricity 2030” is also meant to open the discussion on preventing further investments into coal-fired power plants and coal mines, which would still be operational after 2050.
Renewable energies should replace fossil power generation and in 2030 they will double their generation compared to today with more than 230 TWh per year. In addition, the electrification of the heat and transport sector should enable the utilization of electricity from renewables in terms of sector coupling. A study from commissioned by the trade union Verdi, formerly known as a proponent of coal, also shows that only the exit from coal by 2040 allows Germany to be in line with its CO2-emission reduction plans. A socially acceptable exit from coal could be financed with a levy on top of the electricity price and would raise prices by merely 0.02 to 0.09 cent/kWh.
Reducing Germany’s CO2-emissions by 80-95 percent until 2050 requires a complete decarbonization of the power sector (Source: Montel), as there will still be emissions from industrial processes. Recently the German greenhouse gas emissions have been rising again and stood 0.7 percent higher in 2015 compared to 2014.
