the nuclear transition was not accompanied by the opening of coal-fired power plants

Has the German energy transition been accompanied by the opening of coal-fired power stations, which emit a lot of CO2? This is an argument we often hear. Prisca Thevenot, spokesperson for En Marche assures us on Twitter : “advocating the end of nuclear power will simply reignite coal-fired power stations as has been done in Germany “.

Yet the numbers don’t say that. The abandonment of nuclear power in Germany was decided in 2002, and the timetable was accelerated after the Fukushima accident, to close all power plants in 2022. The share of nuclear in the electricity produced by Germany has therefore increased. from 27% in 2005 to 11% in 2020. But it is the renewable energies which compensated, and even more than compensated for this decrease. Their share in electricity production increased from 11% in 2005 to 44% in 2020.

Coal, it really fell from 2014. It accounted for 45% of the electricity produced in 2005, against 24% today. While a new coal-fired power station was commissioned in 2020, their overall number has dropped from 84 in 2010 to 63 today. Of course, the share of electricity produced by gas-fired power stations has increased slightly, from 12% to 16%, but in the end, it is renewable energies that have made the most progress.

The pro-nuclear argue that Germany must now import more electricity. And that keeping German reactors in service, accompanied by the boom in renewable energies, would have made it possible to further reduce the use of coal. But to say that Germany had to relight coal-fired power stations, as the spokesperson for En Marche asserts, is false.

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