RWE, Vattenfall Lignite Plants to Enter $1.8 Billion Reserve
- Eight blocs to enter capacity reserve in steps from 2016
- Move to cut CO2 by 12.5 million tons by 2020 but protect jobs
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Germany forged an accord with three utilities to relegate some of their dirtiest power plants to the nation’s reserve generating capacity to help cut carbon pollution and avert blackouts.
Over seven years from the winter of 2016, eight lignite power plants owned by RWE AG, Vattenfall AB and Mitteldeutsche Braunkohlegesellschaft mbH will be placed in stages in the reserve to create a 2.7-gigawatt backstop, the Economy and Energy Ministry said Saturday. The utilities will be paid about 1.6 billion euros ($1.76 billion) in all to keep the plants offline except in an emergency when power demand exceeds supply, it said. The ministry didn’t name the plants.