As of: March 17, 2024, 12:04 p.m
By: Sascha Karowski
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The northern thermal power plant will be converted to natural gas this year.
© Jens Hartmann
The northern thermal power plant is scheduled to be converted from coal to natural gas this summer.
The municipal utilities had already postponed the project twice.
Munich - The Munich municipal utilities (SWM) are sticking to their goal of ending coal burning in the northern thermal power plant before this winter.
“During the overhaul in the summer, Unit 2 at HKW Nord will be optimized for natural gas in continuous operation and will be operated with natural gas from autumn onwards,” said company spokesman Michael Silva when asked.
In Unit 2 at HKW Nord, hard coal has been burned to generate heat and electricity.
Natural gas instead of hard coal: Mayor Dieter Reiter and SWM boss Florian Bieberbach announced the change three years ago
In 2021, Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) and SWM boss Florian Bieberbach announced that the state capital would stop burning coal and generating energy from nuclear power in 2022.
This step had previously been requested by a referendum, among other things.
On November 5, 2017, 60.4 percent voted that the municipal utilities should phase out hard coal-fired power generation and switch to natural gas by the end of 2022 at the latest.
But nothing came of it.
Almost 95 percent of Germany's natural gas requirements are imported.
In 2022, the largest delivery volume came from Norway, followed by Russia.
Due to the war of aggression against Ukraine, the direct import of Russian natural gas to Germany was completely stopped in September 2022.
From then on, the Federal Republic not only imported more natural gas from Norway, but also from the Netherlands (29 percent) and Belgium (23 percent).
The natural gas from there comes as liquid natural gas.
The first facilities to absorb the gas did not go into operation in Germany until December 2022.
The municipal utilities had therefore already postponed the phase-out of hard coal twice for reasons of security of supply.
The municipal utility’s goal remains unchanged: “One hundred percent renewable electricity and heat supply”
However, Stadtwerke boss Florian Bieberbach had always emphasized that his company would stick to its fundamental goals.
“Our strategy towards 100% renewable electricity and heat supply remains unchanged.”