In order to save natural gas consumption and prevent electricity shortages, the German government is returning several coal-fired power plants to operation this winter.

Referring to the government’s decision to return coal-fired power plants to operation, the German Ministry of Economy and Climate Action announced that several units of coal-fired power plants under the management of RWE and LEAG companies will be temporarily activated until March 2024.

These coal-burning units were active in the winter of last year, when Germany was surprised by the sharp reduction in gas supply from Russia. Back-up coal-fired power generation capacity was put on standby this summer until the German government has now decided to reactivate it for the winter.

The German Ministry of Economy announced: “The supply reserve will be reactivated in order to save gas in electricity generation and thus prevent supply bottlenecks with gas in the 2023/2024 heating period.”

The ministry added: “The goal of completing the coal phase-out ideally in 2030 remains unaffected, as do the climate targets.”

After March 31, 2024, Germany’s economy ministry will assess how much additional greenhouse gas emissions the reactivated coal-fired power plants have emitted.

Coal served as Germany’s back-up last winter, and it’s clear that it will play a role in keeping the lights on this winter as well, especially after Germany completed the phase-out of nuclear power this spring.

Germany phased out nuclear power after decommissioning its three remaining nuclear power plants in April, ending more than six decades of commercial nuclear power use.

The country continues to urge consumers to conserve gas and expects natural gas prices to remain high until at least 2027.

Germany will continue to face a natural gas shortage through the winter of 2026-2027 unless measures are taken to add LNG terminals and additional gas storage capacity or pipelines, the association of gas storage system operators in Germany (INES) said in August, according to OilPrice’s report.