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Essen (dpa / lnw) - When coal is phased out, it is unclear whether several hard coal power plants in North Rhine-Westphalia will finally be shut down in the summer as planned.
A spokesman for the Federal Network Agency confirmed on Thursday that the transmission system operators had identified the power plants as systemically relevant.
The authority is checking whether the systems need to be kept operational in order to ensure the stability of the power system in emergencies.
It is also being investigated whether disturbances in the power supply can be eliminated by other measures.
The process runs until June 1.
The «WAZ» had first reported on the exams (Thursday).
It's about the Steag power plant Walsum 9 near Duisburg and the Uniper plant Heyden 4 in East Westphalia.
The two power plants are among a total of eleven plants in all of Germany that won a bid at the first auction to phase out coal.
According to the “WAZ” report, the RWE power plant in Westphalia is also not to be mothballed.
A so-called phase shifter is to be set up there to stabilize the network frequency.
The responsible network operator Amprion did not comment on this.
Operators will receive a total of 317 million euros for the decommissioning.
The money also flows if a power plant is left in reserve.
The power plants have not been producing any electricity since the beginning of the year.
This would not change if the network agency followed the network operator's recommendations.
Electricity consumers bear the costs of keeping the power plants ready.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210304-99-684484 / 2