Energy Crisis May Force Germany To Run Coal Plants Longer: Merz

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Chancellor Friedrich Merz said yesterday that if the energy crisis sparked by the Middle East war dragged on, Germany might have to keep running coal-fired power plants longer than planned.

Germany has committed as part of its climate plans to gradually shutting down plants fired by anthracite and lignite and complete the coal phase-out by 2038 at the latest.

"If the energy crisis continues and a shortage actually occurs, we may even have to keep existing coal-fired power plants online for longer," Merz told a forum in Frankfurt organised by the FAZ newspaper.

"We have to supply this country with electricity. I am not prepared to jeopardise the core of our industry just because we have decided on phase-out plans that have become unrealistic."

Europe's biggest economy has for decades pushed an energy transition away from fossil fuels and nuclear energy by building up wind, solar and other clean and renewable energy sources.

While the Merz government has pledged to stick to national climate targets, it has prioritised boosting the stagnating economy and scrapped some green energy initiatives.

Under Merz, Germany has lobbied for the EU to weaken the phase-out of combustion engine car sales, proposed ending subsidies for rooftop solar panels and reversed a law mandating green heating for buildings.

His Economy and Energy Minister, Katherina Reiche, speaking at an oil and gas conference in Houston, Texas this week, called for more "flexibility" in EU plans to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, sparking protests at home and abroad.

Yesterday, Merz said he was committed to the further expansion of renewable energies, but said they must be supplemented by new gas-fired power plants.

Under ex-chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany moved to shut down nuclear power in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

Merz said yesterday the decommissioned reactors would have to stay shut for technical reasons.

But he also said that he envisions Germany participating in research on small modular nuclear reactors, and, ultimately, building nuclear fusion reactors.

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