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Merkel: Germany needs doubling new fossil power plants for exiting nuclear

10 June 2011 00:19 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday Germany needs to add 20 gigawatts of gas and coal- fired power-generating capacity to guarantee power supply as the country completely exits from nuclear power by 2022, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The German government previously estimated that it will need 10 gigawatts to fill the gap, as 10 gigawatts in fossil capacity have been planned and will be completed by 2013.

The newly planned fossil capacity is even more than the total power produced in Belgium, about 19.6 gigawatts, however, Merkel still insisted that Germany will reach its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.

But Merkel did not explain how to realize the goal after increasing fossil capacity and who will be responsible to build those new plants.

The German government unveiled its ambitious plan to shut down all its nuclear power plants by 2022 on May 30, which has raised suspicions from German industry and environmentalists.

According to the official data, nuclear energy produces 22.6 percent of Germany’s electricity, with coal providing over 42 percent, natural gas 13.6 percent and renewable energy 17.0 percent.

Just replacing the first seven closed nuclear reactors with conventional energy would add some 25 million metric tons in CO2 to Germany’s emissions, the International Energy Agency said in May.

There’s no way Germany can meet its climate goals if it bets this heavily on coal and gas, says Michael Mueller, one of the heads of the German Federation for Nature ( DNR).