Europe’s energy crisis
“A Paradoxical Situation”: Germany Is Dismantling A Wind Farm To Make Way For A Coal Mine
By Michael Kern of OilPrice.com
A wind farm is being dismantled in western Germany to make way for an expansion of an open-pit lignite coal mine in a “paradoxical” situation highlighting the current prioritization of energy security over clean energy in Europe’s biggest economy.
The dismantling of at least one wind turbine at the wind farm close to the German coal mine Garzweiler, operated by energy giant RWE, has already started. RWE says that lignite, or brown coal, has been mined from the Garzweiler coalfields for over 100 years.
RWE also said at the end of September that three of its lignite-fired coal units that were previously on standby would return to the electricity market on schedule in October.
“The three lignite units each have a capacity of 300 megawatts (MW). With their deployment, they contribute to strengthening the security of supply in Germany during the energy crisis and to saving natural gas in electricity generation,” RWE said last month.
Now the company is expanding the lignite mine at Garzweiler after a court in Münster in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia ruled in favor of the energy group in a land dispute in March this year to expand the lignite mine.
Commenting on the dismantling of wind turbines to make way for expanding a coal mine, Guido Steffen, a spokesperson for RWE, told the Guardian, “We realize this comes across as paradoxical.”
“But that is as matters stand,” Steffen added.
Earlier this week, the ministry for economic and energy affairs of the state of North-Rhine Westphalia urged RWE to abandon the plan to dismantle the wind farm.
“In the current situation, all potential for the use of renewable energy should be exhausted as much as possible and existing turbines should be in operation for as long as possible,” a spokesperson for the state’s ministry told the Guardian.
No Fracking Way: UK Flip-Flops Back To ‘Green’ Religion
Almost as quickly as UK Prime Minister Liz Truss was ousted from office, so too was her (now-temporary) order to resume gas shale fracking – a plan which included offering UK households £1,000 each for allowing the practice in their neighborhoods.
According to the Financial Times, her successor – the WEF-sponsored (of “great reset, eat bugs, own nothing and be happy” fame) Rishi Sunak is reversing Truss’s order, and reinstating the fracking ban.
During his first prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday, the new UK prime minister told MPs that he “stands by” the Conservative party’s 2019 manifesto commitment that halted fracking. The moratorium was briefly lifted by Truss during her brief period as prime minister. -FT
The 2019 manifesto – which followed a 2.9 earthquake caused by private fracking company Cuadrilla – reads; “We placed a moratorium on fracking in England with immediate effect. Having listened to local communities, we have ruled out changes to the planning system. We will not support fracking unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely.“
As such, former PM Boris Johnson’s government announced that all new fracking wells would be banned, and the country’s only active site in northwestern England would immediately shut down.
Truss’s reversal was set to increase North Sea drilling, a renewed focus on accelerating offshore wind farms, a pre-announced £400 energy bill discount and the removal of green levies costing £150 – capping the typical household energy bill approximately £1,971.
Sunak, however, is still advocating for offshore wind plants “and more nuclear,” adding “that is what this government will deliver.”
UK NatGas production had been notably declining since 2000.
The news brings clarity to Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Tuesday resignation. Rees-Mogg, a fracking advocate, was placed in charge of the UK’s energy strategy by Truss. He notably warned against ‘climate alarmism’ and said that he wants cheap energy for his constituents “rather more than I would like them to have windmills.”
Rebecca Newsom, head of politics for Greenpeace UK, said Mr Rees-Mogg was the “last person who should be in charge of the energy brief,” adding that “appointing him to the brief now suggests the Tories have learned nothing from some years of energy policy incompetence.”
The Greta will be pleased, we’re sure.
Earth has reached ‘Code Red’: CO2 levels are the highest on RECORD – and humanity is ‘unequivocally facing a climate emergency’, report warns
- New World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency 2022 report released
- It warns humanity is ‘unequivocally facing a climate emergency’
- CO2 levels are highest on record, having reached 418 parts per million
With carbon dioxide levels at their highest on record and temperatures continuing to rise, Earth has officially reached ‘Code Red’, a new report has warned.
An international team of researchers has penned a new report titled ‘World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency 2022′, in which they warn that humanity is ‘unequivocally facing a climate emergency’.
Professor William Ripple, co-author of the study, said: ‘Look at all of these heat waves, fires, floods and massive storms.
