Coal-fired power plants are to replace many gas-fired power plants in Germany.

The Bundestag gave the green light for this on Thursday evening.

But the temporary return to coal is not easy, as a survey of large power plant operators revealed.

There are a number of hurdles to be overcome both when restarting the coal-fired power plants that were previously banned to the grid reserve or on standby and when continuing to operate plants that were actually intended to be shut down.

The problems range from a lack of staff and low coal reserves to legal hurdles.

With the increased use of coal-fired power plants, gas is to be saved in view of the throttling of Russian supplies.

Leag wants to restart blocks in the Jänschwalde lignite-fired power plant

The power plant operator Leag, for example, is preparing to restart the 500-megawatt blocks E and F of the Jänschwalde lignite-fired power plant in Brandenburg, which are currently still on standby.

“Currently, the two power plant blocks are being technically checked.

Maintenance work will be necessary to make them fit for use lasting several weeks or even several months,” the company announced.

Additional staff must also be hired.

"For a continuous operation of the two power plant blocks, we now expect an additional personnel requirement of more than 200 employees," emphasized a company spokeswoman.

The positions have been advertised for several weeks.

In addition, the federal government must exempt the power plant units for the duration of their planned use from the immission control requirements for lignite-fired power plants, which have been tightened since last year, emphasized Leag.

Because a corresponding technical upgrade is not possible for reasons of time alone.

According to its own statements, the Essen power plant operator Steag can even bring an additional 2,300 megawatts of output back onto the market beyond October 2022.

To do this, three coal-fired power plants in Bergkamen in North Rhine-Westphalia and in Völklingen in Saarland would have to continue to be operated beyond the actually planned shutdown at the end of October.

The company also announced that two power plant blocks in Saarland could be retrieved from the grid reserve.

Coal supply is not yet sufficient

However, Steag still sees challenges in the sufficient supply of these power plants with coal.

"At most of the power plant sites themselves, the coal reserves are currently only sufficient for about a week of full-load operation," emphasized the company.

Because nobody expected the increasing demand for coal-fired power.

Steag has access to hard coal reserves for around 30 days of full-load operation of the entire power plant fleet.

However, most of the coal is stored in Rotterdam, and there is a bottleneck when transporting it to the power plant sites.

Because the logistics industry has also adjusted to the phase-out of coal, which has been enshrined in law since 2020, and has reduced transport capacities for hard coal accordingly.

"There is currently a lack of inland waterway vessels, freight wagons, locomotives and train drivers," says Steag.