Berlin, (EFE).- Germany has guaranteed the future of its energy supply, vice chancellor Robert Habeck said Monday, as the nation prepares to shut down its last three nuclear power plants.
“Energy security was achieved during the last difficult winter and this will continue in the future,” Habeck, who is also the Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, said in a statement to the Funke media group.
Habeck added that gas deposits were at adequate levels and that the new floating liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals in the northern industrial port of Brunsbüttel, as well as the boost in renewables, mean “the situation is under control.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, of the Social Democratic Party, used executive powers in October to delay the legally mandated shutdown of Germany’s last three operating nuclear plants amid concerns about energy shortages throughout the winter months amid the ongoing war in Ukraine and the subsequent drop in Russian gas flows.
The move to close the Isar 2 and Neckar 2 power plants, in southern Germany, and Lingen, in the central state of Lower Saxony, had been slated for December 31 but was postponed until April 15.
Habeck, who co-leads the Green Party, has ruled out the construction of new nuclear plants, because he believes they have only led to “economic failure” in France, the United Kingdom and Finland.
Scholz’s government is aiming to have 80% of total energy consumption be green by 2030.
In 2022, renewables provided 46.2% of electricity consumption in Germany.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany has reduced its energy dependence on Moscow, eventually aiming to replace all Russian energy imports.
The shift has seen several coal mines reopen, although the government has stuck to its timeline of phasing out coal-fired power plants between 2030 and 2038.
Source : La Prensa Latina
