Germany Continues Shutdown of Power Plants Despite Growing Energy Crisis

Despite facing a spiralling energy crisis, Germany has continued its Green crusade of shutting down hydrocarbon-fueled power plants.

Germany’s green crusade against fossil fuels has continued to march on during what has been described by other nations as a “chaotic geopolitical context” for energy, with the country taking another hydrocarbon-fueled power station out of service on Friday.

This is despite the fact that the country is facing down one of the worst energy crises in its recent history, at risk of having the majority of its gas supply cut off completely over tensions with Russia.

According to a report by Der Spiegel, a lignite powered station in Neurath which can generate up to 300 megawatts of power will go offline on Friday.

Owned by energy company RWE, the shutdown is reportedly in line with the German government’s coal phase-out programme.

However, the German multinational has said that the plant will be conserved for a little while longer, which will allow it to be brought back online should it be needed.

“Against the background of the current debate about a possible reduction in gas consumption in power generation, RWE will conserve the unit for a short time,” the company reportedly said.

“The company will for now not implement measures that would threaten a recommissioning, for the eventuality that the government decides the plant is temporarily still needed to ensure security of supply,” Reuters meanwhile also notes the group as saying.

Neither the Reuters nor Der Spiegel report contains any reference for exactly how long RWE will refrain from implementing measures “that would threaten a decommissioning” however.

Despite this, the German government seems pleased that the plant will be available for a little while longer should the nation desperately need it, with the Federal Ministry of Economics reportedly welcoming the fact the plant will be conserved.

As Germany continues its shutdown of hydrocarbon and nuclear power plants, authorities in the country battle to deal with the chronic energy crisis brought about by their nation’s crippling addiction to Russian gas.

Receiving 55 per cent of the fuel from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the European country’s supply of the essential fuel has since come under threat over Russia’s renewed war in Ukraine.

Authorities in the nation-state are now scrambling to put in place emergency measures to ensure that gas supply to German homes is not disrupted should the country lose access to Russian gas completely, with Moscow previously threatening to sever the supply should Germany refuse to pay for its gas fix in Russian rubles.

However, the country’s leftist Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has since claimed that he has received assurances from Putin that European companies, including those in Germany, will be able to keep paying for gas in euros and dollars without issue.

Even with this immediate danger abated for now, a number of politicians in the country have lamented how the nation’s reliance on Russia could have possibly gotten this bad in the first place.

“Energy policy is always power policy, is always interest policy, is therefore always security policy,” said the country’s current Economics Minister, Robert Habeck. “And if you look back, you almost can’t understand how we could be so blind to overlook that.”

“We knew, or we could have known, that it was not only stupid to place all our security policy cards on just one country, but that it also wasn’t a smart idea to put them on that particular country,” he continued. “We have to acknowledge that we acted wrongly in the past.”