Coal news and updates

Germany to keep two nuclear plants available as a backup and burn coal as it faces an energy crisis brought on by war and climate change

·         The German government announced its plans to keep the Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim nuclear power plants, both of which are located in the southern part of the country, on a kind of backup status, available only if the country has no other option.

·         "The major crises — war and climate crises — have a very concrete effect," said Robert Habeck, the federal economics and climate protection minister, in written statements published on Monday.

·         Even as Germany opts to give itself the option to turn to the two southern nuclear power plants, Germany is not changing its longer-term goal to shut down all nuclear power in the country, according to Habeck.

German lawmakers announced on Monday that they are going to burn coal and keep two nuclear power plants available as a last resort to get through the winter.

"The major crises — war and climate crises — have a very concrete effect," said Robert Habeck, the federal economics and climate protection minister, in written statements published on Monday. (The statement is issued in German and CNBC used Google to translate it to English.)

The German government announced its plans to keep the Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim nuclear power plants, both of which are located in the southern part of the country, on a kind of backup status, available only if the country has no other option, as it announced the results of its second network stress test, in which German officials are calculating its energy needs based on a number of potentialities.

This second network stress test was focused on the winter season from 2022 to 2023, which is when energy demand is higher as people and businesses need to heat their homes.

The Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection said in its written statement that "hourly crisis situations in the electricity system" this winter are "very unlikely, but cannot be completely ruled out at the moment."

The war in Ukraine has affected Germany's ability to manage its energy supplies because Germany depends heavily on natural gas exports from Russia. Gazprom, Russia's major state-owned energy giant said on Friday that it would not re-open the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which is the primary route of supplying Europe with natural gas, citing a need for maintenance work.