DÜSSELDORF (dpa-AFX) - Despite uncertainties, the black-green state government is sticking to its goal of the energy transition and the early lignite phase-out by 2030. Minister President Hendrik Wüst (CDU) demanded a reliable power plant strategy from the future federal government after the federal elections in order to "phase out lignite-fired power generation by 2030 if possible".
Part of this strategy has always been to build power plants that run on gas and later on hydrogen. The energy-intensive industrial location of NRW needs reliable framework conditions. Wüst also said that the burden of taxes and levies on companies should not continue to rise.
NRW Economics Minister Mona Neubaur (Greens) also said that the absence of the Power Plant Safety Act was another point of uncertainty. However, the goal of phasing out coal was "not up for discussion".
Gas-fired power plants as backups for renewable energies
New gas-fired power plants, which will later be operated with hydrogen, are to be available in future as "backups" to secure electricity generation from renewable energies from wind and sun - in times of "dark doldrums" when no wind is blowing and no sun is shining.
According to the original federal plans, the first tenders for the construction of new power plants were supposed to be issued in the first half of 2025. The first new power plants were to be commissioned in 2030.
This target is no longer likely to be met after the traffic lights were broken. This also threatens to shake the timetable for the coal phase-out. The new gas-fired power plants are to replace coal-fired power plants. So far, a phase-out brought forward by eight years to 2030 has only been decided in the Rhenish mining area.
Competitiveness is also a prerequisite for the successful climate-neutral transformation of industry, said Wüst. "We will become an industrial museum if we are not competitive." The new, energy-efficient plants would be built in places that are more competitive.
Are there any clean energy plants?
In response to criticism from CDU/CSU chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz, who considers wind power to be merely a transitional technology and described wind turbines as ugly, Wüst said: "Energy policy has always been beyond aesthetic debate per se." Neither are power plants nor lignite holes.
"And you don't have to find a solar roof or a wind turbine." But in a state that consumes a lot of energy, there is probably always something being done that someone hasn't already found.
In terms of the expansion of renewable energies, NRW has almost reached its expansion targets for wind power. Among the German federal states, NRW is currently the most dynamic. However, it is clear that the expansion of renewable energy must be controlled./dot/DP/nas