Swedish power utility Vattenfall has announced that it would phase out two 500 MW units (units E and F) at its Jänschwalde lignite-fired power plant in Germany as of October 2018 and October 2019. The units will remain in standby mode, i.e. the units will be taken off the grid each for four years and will only be available as facilities of last resort for a limited period of time to safeguard power supplies; the company will be compensated for the standby availability. Definitive shut down is expected in October 2022 and October 2023, respectively. Closing the two units should cut Vattenfall's CO2 emissions by 8 Mt.
This decision follows that of RWE, which will put five power units of 300 MW each into standby (Frimmersdorf P and Q in October 2017, Niederaußem E and F in October 2018 and Neurath C in October 2019). It is in line with the plans by the German Federal Government to transfer a total of 2.7 GW of lignite-fired power capacity into a "standby" for four years before being shut.
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