In a bid to decrease reliance on Russian energies, Germany’s parliament on Friday agreed to reactivate retired coal power plants to generate electricity. Both the houses of parliament of Germany have passed emergency legislation to start coal-fired power plants, said economics minister Robert Habeck, who termed this move “painful but necessary,” reported The Guardian.
Notably, this move has the support of the Greens who are part of the coalition government, as they see this measure as a tool to manage a short-term crisis.
The upper house of parliament on Friday gave final approval to the bill that was introduced with a slew of measures to accelerate the expansion of renewable energy. The Guardian reported that in the bill, this was also termed as a matter of public security and a proposal to establish a minimum on the proportion of land each federal state must allow for windfarms.
Germany all set to reactivate its retired coal power plants as Russia curbs gas supply
With this development, Germany would most likely miss out on even its most basic climate targets, said environmental activists expressed concern that restarting retired coal power plants would result in significant pollution. Before the Ukraine war, Germany planned to completely eliminate the use of coal by 2030, but after Moscow disrupted the gas supplies, the German government finally decided to restart coal-fired power plants that had been mothballed.
Notably, this measure is being adopted by the German government to overcome its dependency on Russian gas and to preserve energy supplies before winter in order to carry out a wide range of industrial processes. Meanwhile, the Federation of German Industries (BDI) welcomed the decision, calling it “better late than never.”
It said, “Politics and the economy must urgently use the summer months to save gas, to ensure the storage facilities are full ahead of the coming heating season.” Otherwise, we face a grave gas shortage with a sharp decline in industrial production. “In this tense situation, what counts is every single day and every cubic metre of gas we can save,” as per The Guardian news report.
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