FDP wants to put more coal-fired power plants back into operation

FDP parliamentary group leader Lukas Köhler has spoken out in favor of putting as many coal-fired power plants back into operation as possible during the energy crisis. "In order to protect people and companies from further increases in electricity prices, all capacities must now be connected to the grid," said Köhler of the German Press Agency. He is also responsible for the continued operation of the three remaining nuclear power plants beyond the end of the year.

In order for more coal-fired power plants to be connected to the grid again, the framework conditions would have to be created as quickly as possible, according to Köhler. "In particular, the power plant operators need the certainty that continued operation is guaranteed until 2024. Otherwise, economical operation would hardly be possible and the power plants would not be started up again," says Köhler.

So far, according to an ordinance by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, coal-fired power plants that come back from the so-called grid reserve can participate in the electricity market for a limited period until April 30, 2023.

"Due to the previous regulation, the Ministry of Economics has only managed to get two coal-fired power plants out of the reserve again," said Köhler. “No one in the federal government will want to be accused of not having done everything possible to defuse the crisis as much as possible. The FDP parliamentary group supports all proposals that quickly expand the electricity supply, and I am confident that our coalition partners are pulling in the same direction with us."

In addition to hard coal-fired power plants, lignite-fired power plants are also due to return to the electricity market from the beginning of October. These are lignite-fired power plant blocks that are currently on so-called security standby.

The head of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, called on private households in Germany to save energy again. "It's about the reaction in the 28 million households that in the next heating season will have to make the individual decision every day as to how high they turn up the heating and how many rooms they heat," said Müller of the "Augsburger Allgemeine" in a preliminary report according to

It is clear that you need at least 20 percent savings to get through the winter. Even a few very cold weeks would send gas consumption through the roof. So there is no reason for the all-clear. "It all depends on how we react to the temperatures," says Müller. The Federal Network Agency intends to publish the first statistics on this at the end of the month.