Germany has made major strides in making renewable energy sources work for it, so much so that the country has decided to eventually shut down all 84 of its coal-fired power plants as it intends to primarily rely on renewable sources of energy. It’s pertinent to mention here that Germany has previously been one of the world’s biggest consumers of coal for power generation.
This change won’t happen immediately, though, and that’s understandable. This is a major task and can’t be done in a rush. Germany has said that it will be shutting down all of its 84 coal-fired power plants within the next 19 years.
The country has gradually been bringing down its reliance on coal power plants for electricity generation. However, these plants still account for a significant chunk of the power mix. Approximately 40 percent of Germany’s electricity currently comes from coal power plants.
“There won’t be any more coal-burning plants in Germany by 2038,” said Ronald Pofalla, who is the chairman of the 28 member government commission that was involved in negotiations over this. Since the coal regions will be severely impacted by this decision, the commission has recommended spending some $45 billion in those areas to help ease the pain.
Germany previously made another bold change in its energy policy by announcing that it would shut down all of its nuclear power plants by 2022. This commitment was made in 2012 following the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.
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