The German federal government and state governments of Brandenburg, Saxony, North-Rhine Westphalia and Saxony-Anhalt have reached an agreement on the coal-fired power plant shutdown schedule and on financial compensation and structural aid for coal and lignite producing regions.
The federal Ministry of Economy and Energy (BMWi) has announced a detailed decommissioning plan encompassing over 17 GW of coal-fired and lignite-fired power plants closure by 2038: 2.8 GW will be shutdown by the end of 2022 (all operated by RWE in Rheinland); another 5.7 GW by 2030, of which 3 GW operated by LEAG (EPH) and 2.7 GW by RWE; and another 8.65 GW by the end of 2038, of which 3 GW operated by RWE and LEAG (EPH) each and 1.8 GW held by EPH. Under the terms of the agreement, the federal government will assess in 2026 and 2029 if alternative (renewable) power generation is sufficient to stop lignite-fired power generation in 2035. The agreed phase-out schedule will be discussed with power utilities and the government will launch the coal exit bill in January 2020, to have it approved by mid-2020.
In addition, the government plans to conclude a federal-state agreement with the states of Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt by May 2020 to implement the Structural Strengthening Act, which will regulate the implementation of the financial compensation. Indeed, the government plans €40bn in compensation for coal and lignite producing states for the closure of the power plants and of related mine. Operators of the power plants will receive a total of €4.35bn (€2.6bn for North-Rhine Westphalia and €1.75bn for the three eastern Germany states). Despite this agreement, the 1.1 GW Datteln 4 coal-fired power plant will still be commissioned; the project is in trial operations and could begin operations as soon as mid-2020.
The German government aims to phase out all coal-fired power plants by 2038 at the latest, in order to cut the country's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990. In late 2019, it agreed not to force coal-fired and lignite-fired power plants to stop operations over the next 7 years and planned to incite plant operators to shut them down in early 2020 by using subsidies and tenders.
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