Uniper urges caution in Germany's exit from coal
13/11/2018 10:48
FRANKFURT, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Germany should take care in
closing coal-fired power plants to avoid disruption and spread
risks evenly, power utility Uniper UN01.DE said on Tuesday.
Chief Finance Officer Christopher Delbrueck said on a call
with journalists that Uniper had proposed including hard coal
plants in a security reserve of 2.7 gigawatts (GW) of brown-coal
fired capacity.
"This...could provide supply security despite the coming
exit from nuclear power (by 2022)," he said. The call was held
after the release of Uniper's nine-month earnings. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nB4N1S100W
A commission is working on a roadmap for phasing out coal as
an energy source, similar to Germany's plan to exit nuclear
power.
The commission by year-end is due to present its first
proposals on enforcing further cuts to carbon emissions from the
coal sector.
Delbrueck said policymakers should also give legal certainty
up to 2030 for the operations of gas-fired plants to support
investment in that sector and allow voluntary coal plant closure
tenders.
"This would make it easier to plan the coal exit and avoid
disruptions, while being cost efficient and tolerable for the
macroeconomy," he said.
(Reporting by Vera Eckert and Chris Steitz; editing by Jason
Neely)
((vera.eckert@thomsonreuters.com; +49 69 7565 1228; Reuters
Messaging: vera.eckert.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))