In practice, the law initially favors the construction of modern gas-fired power plants. Starting in 2026, several rounds of tenders will be held for new, controllable power plants with a total capacity of twelve gigawatts (GW). Of this, ten gigawatts are earmarked for new plants that must be capable of supplying electricity continuously for at least ten hours. Many storage facilities cannot meet this requirement.
The new gas-fired power plants must be capable of being converted to hydrogen operation and must run completely greenhouse gas-neutral after 2045. Emission-intensive plants such as coal-fired power stations are excluded from the tenders.
REGIONAL STEERING OF NEW CONSTRUCTION
The facilities are to be built primarily in the industrial and populous south and west of Germany and must be operational by 2031 at the latest. They are intended to secure the power supply even during so-called 'dark doldrums' with little wind and sun. The reason for the regional steering is an imbalance in the power grid, as large power plants in southern and western Germany are being phased out due to the exit from nuclear and coal power, while the expansion of renewable energies is taking place primarily in the north. Building the new power plants directly at the centers of consumption is therefore intended to relieve the power grids and significantly reduce the need for expensive emergency interventions, known as redispatch.
The new gas-fired power plants are costly but are expected to run only rarely. To ensure that investors build them and keep them ready for dark doldrums nonetheless, they will receive compensation for this readiness. Financing is planned via a levy, which is ultimately expected to be borne by electricity customers. The EU Commission has yet to grant its approval.
The potential costs and the level of the levy have not been quantified. In previous calculations, the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) pointed to a funding requirement of approximately five billion euros per year. This would correspond to a levy of up to two cents per kilowatt-hour on electricity prices.
The exact design of the levy is to be regulated in a separate law by 2027. The level of compensation for individual operators will be determined beforehand through the bidding process.
(Report by Holger Hansen, edited by Kerstin Dörr. For inquiries, please contact our editorial office at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and economics) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)
- by Holger Hansen
