Vattenfall wants to shut down its largest coal power station in Germany
Energy company Vattenfall may close down its newest and largest coal-fired power station in Germany, CEO Magnus Hall . The coal plant Moorburg in Hamburg, with a capacity of 1.6 gigawatt, only started operations in 2015 after years of struggle with local environmental groups. Hall said that the Moorburg plant had 鈥� with parts or its entire capacity - participated in the first tender for a shut-down premium for hard coal-fired power stations, which is part of Germany鈥檚 coal exit plan, and would close down operations in the middle of 2021 if its bid is successful.
鈥淭his was a difficult decision because it is a young and highly efficient power plant,鈥� Hall told S眉ddeutsche Zeitung. 鈥淏ut if you are losing money with it, you have to do something.鈥�
According to Vattenfall, the plant emitted 4.7 million tonnes of CO2 last year and could continue to operate until 2038. But the is to stop the use of fossil fuels, including coal, by 2030.
Greenpeace Germany head Martin Kaiser said Hall's comments were a sign that hard coal was 鈥渆conomically and politically dead鈥�.
This first round of Germany鈥檚 hard-coal phase-out tenders is designed to take some 4 gigawatts of capacity off the grid. The results will be announced in December. Under the shut-down scheme, utilities offer a bid for how much money they are willing to stop operations of their plants, taking into account their projected future earnings.
The Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) organises the auctions. A spokesperson told 威力彩玩法 that successful bidders in this first round of auction will be prohibited from selling power on the market from January 2021. They will then be prohibited from burning coal from July 鈥� the date mentioned by Vattenfall鈥檚 Hall.
However, to ensure grid security, the transmission grid operators will determine which of the winning bid power plant units might be critically important for the electricity system as a whole. 鈥淚f a winning bid facility is deemed critical for the system, it will not be fully decommissioned, but moved into the grid reserve to ensure grid security,鈥� said the spokesperson. 聽
Low wholesale prices for electricity and rising prices for CO2 emissions have made many coal power plants unprofitable. Although one of the newest plants in Germany, Moorburg in particular has been struggling with local opposition and accusations of being outdated since it started operations. In 2019 the plan to connect it to a fell through because it didn鈥檛 fit in with Hamburg鈥檚 aim to phase out coal use for heat production by 2030.
Germany is planning to phase out the use of coal by no later than 2038. Its parliament approved legislation in July 2020, setting out a shutdown schedule for individual lignite power plants, compensation payments for operators and auctions for hard coal plant operators to take capacity off the grid. Phasing out coal is part of Germany鈥檚 attempt to become greenhouse-gas neutral by the middle of the century. CO2 emissions from the German power mix have since 1990, according to an estimate by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA).
