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Germany's coal exit quietly progressing, likely completed by 2032 – researcher (www.cleanenergywire.org)
submitted 2 days ago by Sepia@mander.xyz to c/climate@slrpnk.net
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cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/52096709

Germany's coal phase-out is on track to happen through market forces well before the legal 2038 deadline, regardless of current energy market turbulence, says Hauke Hermann, a researcher at the Institute of Applied Ecology (Öko-Institut). Carbon price trends make an exit as early as 2031 or 2032 likely, Hermann told Clean Energy Wire. Refiring old coal plants in response to the Iran war's energy market shock to cut power costs would distort investment signals and is unlikely to happen in practice, he added.

Soaring energy prices have triggered calls for slowing Germany’s coal exit. The country’s coal exit law, agreed in 2020, provides for the step-by-step decommissioning of coal power plants. It also stipulates that coal-fired power generation must cease by 2038 at the very latest. Germany's western coal region aims for an earlier phase-out by 2030, but delays in building new gas-fired power plants as a backup for renewables make meeting this earlier deadline increasingly unlikely.

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[-] Mihies@programming.dev 0 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Yep, Nuclear is all you listed above. But OTOH they are reliable and predicatable 24/7.

If the two options are a new nuclear reactor or investment in renewables, than the latter option is faster, more reliable and cheaper.

You sure? Nuclear is reliable, renewables aren't because they depend on weather.

The gaps in renewables could easily be solved with more water reservoirs and battery stations as power storage.

"Easily". Besides corruption, the sheer amount of energy storage required is enormous, there are nowhere enough batteries available nor pumped storage hydropower. Perhaps in the future where sodium and other batteries appear in mass production, but not today.

Edit: also you can't look at average consumption but at peak daily consumption which might be quite higher during winter than summer.

this post was submitted on 16 May 2026
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