Over the Easter holiday weekend, the Federal Network Agency (BnetzA) in Germany announced that seven lignite-fired power units, with a combined capacity of 3,1 gigawatts, were shut down for good.

The plants, owned by RWE Power and LEAG, were kept online during the energy crisis to safeguard the German power system. Two of the units were allowed to continue operating despite being planned to be decommissioned in 2022 and 2023 while the other five were reactivated during the winter season to support the country’s power supply.

Over the past three years, RWE has shut down 12 coal units with a total generation capacity of 4,2 GW and is preparing to shut down another unit by the end of this year, “leaving just seven of the company’s coal-burning power stations in operation,” according to Power Magazine.

Another power company, Steag was also asked to restart five of its coal units during the energy crisis. Still, according to Bloomberg, “while they were supposed to cease operations at the end of this month, BNetzA recently classified the plants as “systemically relevant”, meaning that Steag can’t fully shut them down and must keep them operational.”

The decisions made by the agency sparked a complaint from Steag “citing the significant costs associated with such a move at a time when energy companies are supposed to be investing in cleaner fuel sources.”

According to preliminary data published by the country’s Federal Environment Agency (UBA), emissions in 2023 dropped by 10% compared to the previous year. The biggest decline was recorded in the energy sector due to reduced fossil fuel consumption thanks to a milder winter and higher renewables.