Bridging Technology for Generating Electric Power in Germany with Gas or Coal?

摘要

As a consequence of the amendment to Germany's Atomic Energy Act dated August 2011, one third of German power station capacity, that is 30 GW, will be taken off the grid over the next 10 years. The already initiated switch-off of atomic power stations, with the consequently necessary temporary buy-in of power from neighbouring countries to temper the severe frost weeks of last winter, has made the new situation quite clear. Nevertheless, assured power supply in Germany is very high compared with that in other industrial nations. For the future the experts predict that power consumption in Germany is hardly like to rise significantly up to 2030, as, contrary to other assumptions, the manufacture of electrically powered cars will not increase substantially owing to the continued lack of power storage capacity. Up to full efficiency of the forecast availability of electric power from renewable sources, another power plant technology is necessary to bridge the gap. Natural gas is the prime candidate as a possible fuel. On the one hand, the demand for gas for heating in Germany has been declining for years as the insulation of buildings improves with an ongoing trend. On the other hand, Germany is increasing extraction and storage of its own natural gas.