On Sunday, parts of the old coal-fired Janschwalde power station, located in eastern Germany, were reactivated in order to cover winter energy needs, according to the country’s largest lignite company LEAG. Reports Bloomberg.
The power plant, with a capacity of 500 megawatts, was closed in 2018 as part of Germany’s strategy to transition to more renewable energy.
On the other hand, the factory was reopened last winter to confront the historically large energy crisis that struck Europe. The power plant will now be opened for this winter as well.
The energy crisis that Europe witnessed last year, and the sabotage of a gas pipeline coming from Russia, forced Germany to temporarily increase its reliance on non-renewable energy sources. Despite the setback to German investments in renewable energy, the German authorities stated that they will have to use non-renewable energy sources this winter as well, in order to overcome the rise in electricity prices.
The German government’s Finance Minister, Robert Habeck, said in an interview with the German News Agency (ARD) last week that the authorities will not restart any old coal-fired power plants in the winter of 2024-2025.
The spot price on Monday was 133.7 euros per megawatt-hour on the European Energy Exchange (EPEX). This is the highest price in more than a month, partly due to lower renewable energy inputs due to less sunshine and wind, Bloomberg writes.
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