The age of coal power generation in Germany is over, according to the country’s renewable energy federation BEE.
BEE president Simone Peter said that the Covid-19 crisis has changed the energy industry significantly, with hard coal plants at a standstill and few lignite facilities connected.
“The age of coal power generation is over. We cannot allow it to flare up again briefly after the Covid-19 crisis,” she said.
“Now it is time to honestly assess the situation on the electricity market and to boldly tackle the right climate and energy policy measures,” Peter added.
BEE said decentralized, flexible capacities are needed to support the expansion of fluctuating renewable energies, such as solar and wind.
Sufficiently developed power grids can guarantee efficient balancing of decentralised generation together with demand management, the association said.
It added that in the future energy storage and power-to-x systems will also be necessary to synchronise load and generation.
Peter called on the federal government to set up a well-coordinated safety network consisting of small, controllable, flexible power plants in order to drive the energy transition further.