Habeck and operators present concept to implement the nuclear power deployment reserve – operators begin preparatory work for deployment

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck has agreed with the operators of nuclear power plants Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim on a concept for a deployment reserve. According to the jointly agreed key points, the two nuclear power plants are to be transferred to a deployment reserve after the end of their regular operating time on 31 December 2022. They are therefore ready to prevent an imminent power grid bottleneck in southern Germany. In order to prepare for the reserve, the operators of the two nuclear power plants will immediately do everything necessary so that the installations can continue to operate on the market after 31 December 2022 until 15 April 2023 at the latest.

Whether it becomes necessary to operate the plants will depend on the basic data of the grid stress test. This will be based on monitoring of the availability of the nuclear power plants in France, the volume of coal-fired power plants back on the market, the availability of the gas-fired and coal-fired power plants, and the expected development in electricity consumption. The decision on the reserve operation of the nuclear power plants is to be taken before the end of this year.

Federal Minister Robert Habeck said: “The task is to ensure security of supply whilst bearing in mind that nuclear power is a high-risk technology which must be used in line with the strict safety rules. We have designed the deployment reserve in a manner that takes this into account. The operators will now make all the necessary preparations so that the southern German nuclear power plants can produce electricity during the winter following the end of the year, obviously in compliance with all the safety rules. We are currently setting the necessary legislation swiftly in motion and monitoring the situation in the German and European electricity system very closely. Overall, Germany has a high level of security of supply in the electricity sector, but the situation always has to be viewed in relation to what is happening in the neighbouring European countries.”

Here, a major role is played by the supply situation in France in particular. More than half of the nuclear power plants there are off the grid, and Germany is offsetting some of the missing electricity there with power from gas-fired power stations. If the situation in France goes badly, the stress factors for the German electricity system will become worse.

The Minister stated: “The data from France have kept deteriorating in the last few weeks. We can no longer assume that the original figure of 50 GW of capacity in the nuclear power plants there will still apply this winter. The French stress test carried out by the transmission system operator there only expects 45 GW in the core scenario, and that only for two weeks in January. This means that we would already be in our very critical stress test scenario. The figures go downwards after that, and at the end of February there would only be 40 GW available – placing us in the extreme scenario. My French colleague has confirmed to me in writing that these are also the government’s assumptions. Under these conditions, the stress test scenario shows that it is appropriate to deploy the nuclear power plants for the purpose of grid stability. Furthermore, the figures cited by the operator, EDF, have often proved to be overoptimistic in the past. As the minister responsible for energy security, I therefore have to say that if this development is not reversed, we will keep Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim on the grid in the first quarter of 2023. As things now stand, I believe this is necessary. The talks with the operators have been completed, the key points paper has been agreed. The legislative changes are now being drafted on this basis. They are to be adopted at the end of October. Speaking today, I have to say that the data coming from France suggest that we will be drawing on and using the deployment reserve.”

In the deployment reserve, the installations continue to be operated as before with the operators bearing full responsibility and liability under nuclear law, without any softening of the rules on nuclear safety. The current safety rules remain in place. If an installation is called on, and is then operated on the electricity market, the operator will earn revenues from the electricity market. If the installation is not called on, the necessary costs for maintaining the deployment reserve will be reimbursed.

If the deployment reserve is used, the Isar 2 nuclear power plant would remain in operation using the current reactor core beyond 31 December 2022 until, probably, the beginning of March 2023. According to the operator, it will initially be possible to deliver roughly 95% of capacity, falling to around 50% at the end of the period, meaning that roughly 2 TWh of electricity is generated. This will require roughly one week of downtime for work to tackle pressure vessel leakages by the end of October at the latest.

According to its operator, the Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant can, following a period off the grid to reconfigure the reactor core, deliver around 70% of its capacity at the beginning of 2023, declining to around 55% of capacity at the end of the period, meaning that roughly 1.7 TWh of electricity is generated.

The key points form the basis for the next binding steps to implement the envisaged deployment reserve in a legally secure manner. To this end, the Federal Government will draw up statutory proposals, aiming to complete the legislative process by the end of October 2022. In addition to the statutory arrangements, the contractual agreements to cover the preparations for the deployment reserve being made by the operators are being drafted.

You can find further details in the key points paper (in German) here.