RWE wants to phase out coal completely by 2030 – some places will remain

Created: 10/04/2022 10:46 am

By: Moritz Serif

Backlit, steam and smoke rise from the Neurath II (l) and Neurath I lignite-fired power plants.

© Oliver Berg/dpa/archive image

Actually, RWE only wanted to get out of lignite-fired power generation at the end of the 2030s.

Now the turnaround.

The exit is more likely.

Essen – The energy group RWE wants to completely phase out lignite-fired power generation by 2030.

The group announced on Tuesday (October 4) that the exit would be brought forward by eight years.

280 million tons of coal remained in the ground.

That corresponds to 280 million tons of CO2 that would no longer be emitted.

RWE announced that the decision was part of an agreement between the company and the responsible Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection and the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The group emphasized that this did not entail any additional compensation for the company.

RWE wants to invest more than 50 billion worldwide by 2023

RWE intends to invest more than 50 billion euros worldwide by 2030 to accelerate the energy transition.

15 billion euros are planned for Germany, the group said.

With the exit from coal, the downsizing will “accelerate significantly” towards the end of the decade, the company explained.

RWE assured that the exit would be "socially responsible".

Germany wants to phase out coal by 2038 at the latest.

The first lignite-fired power plants were shut down as early as 2020.

However, security of supply is currently the order of the day, RWE explained.

The two lignite-fired power plant blocks Neurath D and E in North Rhine-Westphalia, which should go offline at the end of the year, should therefore continue to run until the end of March 2024.

RWE: Some threatened places remain

Some of the villages threatened by demolition are also to be preserved – however, lignite under the Lützerath settlement in the Rhenish mining area will continue to be mined, as RWE announced on Tuesday (October 4).

Environmentalists and residents in the region had hoped that Lützerath would be allowed to stay.

Now it is certain that the houses will be demolished.

The coal under the former Lützerath settlement, in the immediate vicinity of the opencast mine, is needed to operate the "lignite fleet" at high capacity during the energy crisis and at the same time to obtain sufficient material for high-quality recultivation, RWE announced.

The necessary permits and court decisions for this are in place, and all of the original residents have already left the site.

(mse/afp/dpa)