Coal – Smoking chimneys – Süddeutsche.de

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rigorous criteria for coal plants divide the government. Gabriel wants to force a decision.

Markus Balser , Berlin

The Federal Government is planning, according to Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) a rapid intensification of the climate requirements for coal-fired plants. On Wednesday next week to decide on two proposals from the coalition committee. Apart from the controversial air tax for the oldest power plants then is also an alternative scenario for saving emissions are available, which meets the coal sites under the federal states, the policy could be expensive though.

According to previous plans will the Ministry of Economic Affairs to bring the utilities through a levy to refrain faster on power plants with high greenhouse gas emissions. Background is the goal of the German government, by 2020 to reduce CO₂ emissions by 40 percent compared to 1990. To achieve this goal, in addition to a total savings of 22 million tons in this period, the energy sector. The industry itself had fought the tax in the past few months by all means. The affected federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt took to the barricades.

companies, employees, works councils and trade unions have pointed “with comprehensible arguments” that it to job losses in the lignite regions could come, Gabriel said Wednesday at an energy congress in Berlin. He had therefore drawn up with the Chairman of the IG BCE trade union, Michael Vassiliadis, and the North Rhine-Westphalian Economics Minister Garrelt Duin (SPD) an alternative proposal to achieve the climate target. This is based on the proposal from the union, rather progressive individual power plants shut down, as burdening all with air discharge.

According to first old coal power plants with combined heat and power (CHP) decommissioned and for modern gas-CHP plants are built. From this it concludes a savings by 2020 of four million tons of CO₂. The gradual closure of brown coal power plants with a capacity of at least 2.7 gigawatts of 12.5 million tonnes of CO₂ would be saved by 2017 by more. The remaining 5.5 million tonnes would be saved through new measures. “That, however, has a price,” said Gabriel. “Namely, the funding of these instruments from the federal budget.”

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The move by the Minister for Economic Affairs is the coalition partner under pressure

With the move to provide two alternatives to choose from, Gabriel is the coalition partner under pressure. Above all, the CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most prestigious location Coal, had vehemently opposed the levy. The alternative solution is for the promotion of new climate instruments higher costs for the federal government and would require the approval of Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU).

How tense the atmosphere in the coalition on climate change in accordance with the decisions of German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU ) is the G-7 heads of state in Elmau, Gabriel hinted to his speech at the Energy Conference of the German Association of Energy and Water. “I wish sometimes that I can meet with six buddies and a number for 2100 lays down and then let myself partying for that number… Especially when the three times in succession makes and every time considered a success . “

In the dispute over new power lines, the federal government is looking for a compromise with Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU). He should break the resistance of two major electricity highways from north to south. The so-called East-Link is to be done on an existing road to Bavaria, the last kilometers as underground cabling. Also in the main artery of the energy revolution, 800-kilometer south-Link, Gabriel is willing to change.