The German government is still struggling with the power companies to determine the conditions for the timing and sequence of decommissioning of hard coal power plants.
At the same time, negotiations are ongoing with operators of lignite-fired power plants and opencast mines about compensation for the premature shutdown of their plants.
But regardless of the specific implementation of the decision to phase out coal – electricity production from coal in Germany fell unexpectedly sharply in 2019.
According to calculations by the Energy Balances Working Group, the total consumption of lignite and hard coal in Germany decreased by one fifth each.
Wind energy displaced lignite from the number one of the most important energy sources for electricity. Wind turbines on land and at sea provided 21 percent of gross electricity generation in Germany, lignite only 19 percent. This is an important “milestone in the energy transition,” says the German Wind Energy Association. Hard coal only produced nine percent of the electricity. Overall, the share of renewable energies rose to 40 percent according to figures from the energy industry association BDEW.
