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Environment & Energy

2026-05-15T4:10:17+00:00

They couldn't shut their nuclear plants fast enough, killing people by doing so, since they replaced nuclear with coal and gas, sending Putin money so he could buy machinery with which to kill Ukrainians. What a surprise: Germany may have to slow coal plant closures, Merz says. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung / AFP/ ntv Germany may have to keep some coal-fired power plants online longer than planned, as it aims to accelerate the construction of gas-fired power stations amid the ongoing energy crisis stemming from the US and Israeli war on Iran, chancellor Friedrich Merz has said. Speaking at a conference organised by newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Merz said the country must ensure that it can secure baseload power generation in the short term. "We must now move quickly to build gas-fired power stations," the chancellor said, adding that "we may even have to keep existing coal-fired power stations connected to the grid for longer, should the energy crisis continue, and a shortage actually arise." Germanys coal exit law, agreed in 2020, introduced legislation to guarantee the step-by-step decommissioning of power plants, and stipulates that coal-fired power production must cease by 2038 at the very latest. Germany's western coal region had planned for an earlier phase-out by 2030. However, a likely lack of adequate backup capacities due to the delayed auctioning of new gas-fired power plants makes this earlier deadline increasingly unlikely. Merz did not question 2038 as the final coal exit date. The decision to take coal plants offline ultimately rests with the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA). The grid regulator can order plant operators to keep units online or in a reserve to ensure that sufficient capacity is available at all times to stabilise the grid. This, for example, can be important during so-called 'Dunkelflaute' periods with little wind or sunshine or at times of high renewable energy output, when grid operators have to curtail electricity feed-in in some regions and redispatch centralised power plants in others... I added the bold. Don't worry; be happy. Right here at DU we have people in awe of Elon Musk and his fucking batteries. We also have lots of hydrogen morons to tell us about building triply redundant infrastructure to capture those feed in curtailments, when so called "renewable energy" makes all infrastructure worthless. If the fucking batteries are so damned good, why the fuck is Germany killing people by burning coal and confessing they can't do a fucking thing about it because they can't build gas plants fast enough? Antinuke heaven is fossil fuel heaven. Period.

Post removed Fri May 15, 2026, 12:10 AM Yesterday

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Post removed Post removed 16 hrs ago #1

I agree that there are a lot of hydrogen morons pushing to greenwash fossil fuels as hydrogen. NNadir 15 hrs ago #2

Maybe it was always about gas, with "renewables" as a side show. hunter 12 hrs ago #3

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NNadir

(38,527 posts)

2. I agree that there are a lot of hydrogen morons pushing to greenwash fossil fuels as hydrogen.

Reply to Post removed (Reply #1)

Fri May 15, 2026, 10:54 AM

15 hrs ago

I oppose fossil fuels, which is why I oppose hydrogen.

I link this post often to point out how hydrogen is made: A Giant Climate Lie: When they're selling hydrogen, what they're really selling is fossil fuels.

It makes it clear about what the hydrogen marketing here is; I am unlikely to apologize for stating a truth referencing the scientific literature.

Have a nice day.

hunter

(40,848 posts)

3. Maybe it was always about gas, with "renewables" as a side show.

Reply to Post removed (Original post)

Fri May 15, 2026, 01:20 PM

12 hrs ago

Things didn't turn out as planned.