Tag Archives: VDKi

“The Federal Government’s strategy on the subject of the energy transition overestimates the willingness to invest in new gas-fired power plants on the one hand and the technical possibilities of being able to convert hydrogen into electricity at 100 % on the other. Moreover, green hydrogen will not be available in the required quantities for the foreseeable future.” This is ...

“It is irresponsible to talk about the end of hard coal without having reliable alternatives”. This is what Alexander Bethe, Chairman of the Board of the Coal Importers Association (VdKi), Berlin/Germany, said at the traditional New Year’s reception of his association in Hamburg. “Politics must be honest with itself. There is no way around coal as a mainstay in the ...

“We are well prepared for the German government’s announcement to run coal-fired power plants more because of the gas shortage.“ This is what the Chairman of the Board of the Association of Coal Importers (VdKi), Berlin/Germany, Alexander Bethe, said at the VdKi annual meeting in Berlin. He also said that the replacement of Russian coal due to the EU embargo ...

Based on the latest survey of members of Germany’s Coal Importers Association (VDKi) in Berlin, hard coal imports from Russia can, at least in the medium term, be replaced entirely by imports from other countries (Figure  1). These other countries include the USA, South Africa, Australia, Colombia, Mozambique, Indonesia. Approximately 80 % of the members surveyed were in favour of this. ...

Events during the year 2021 illustrate very clearly that supply security is and will remain one of the most important topics of the energy transition. The penultimate act in the nuclear power exit in Germany, the shutdown of 4 GW of power plant capacity, points to the importance of the remaining base of controllable, secure capacity. Securing power supply during ...

Over the course of 2021, it has become clear that security of supply is and will remain one of the most important topics of the energy transition. The expansion of renewable energies that are dependent on supply, wind and solar, is at the centre of energy policy. The continuously increasing share of renewable energies increases the need to hold on ...

The first half of 2021 demonstrated that despite the agreed phase-out of coal, the fuel continues to make an important and reliable contribution to electricity generation. The amount of electricity generated in coal power stations increased by more than a third (35.6 %) to almost 25 TWh during a period of low temperatures and significantly less wind power compared to the ...

The decision to phase out fossil fuels has already been taken. The intention behind Germany’s Coal-Fired Power Generation Termination Act (KVBG) is to resolve a social conflict, while also guaranteeing planning reliability for everyone involved. However, the legislation is not catering to this aspiration in full. In particular operators of young, modern coal-fired power stations are currently uncertain as to ...

Coal-fired power stations can assume the task of system stabilisation. This was shown in the Deloitte study “Analysis of the flexibility of coal-fired power stations for the integration of renewable energies in Germany” compiled on behalf of the German Association of Coal Importers (VDKi), Berlin (Deloitte Finance, November 2019), with a “What if” scenario. From a purely technical perspective, the ...

Coal-fired power stations compensate for load peaks, serve as a back-up for periods of little sunlight and no wind and prevent voltage fluctuations which cause significant financial damages in domestic households and industry. The “Coal Commission” had proposed financial incentives for the construction of public gas turbines. These are less effective and would have to be constructed at great expense ...