German economy minister Michael Glos said Tuesday that the future of
German energy lay in clean coal, with only limited use of natural gas power
plants.

Speaking at the annual Handelsblatt Energy-Economy Conference in Berlin,
Glos said Germany had large coal resources that could be used at any time.

The challenge, Glos said, was for Germany "to take care of the clean
usage of this resource." The minister said he saw only "limited use" for gas-fired power plants in
Germany, citing concerns about depending on Russia for gas, as well as the
absence of combined heat and power technology in gas-fired plants.

The gas dispute between Russia and the Ukraine, he said, "has shown how
dependent we are on Russia [and] we have to see to it that this dependency
does not deepen." Secondly, Glos said he was "very critical" about the fact the gas-fired
power plants were often built without combined heat and power technology. "I am very worried to see this development and my opinion is that without
including heat production in these new power plants we won't solve the
economic challenges of this country," he said.

Glos also repeated his skepticism about renewable energy and his support
for nuclear power. "Not only do we need renewable energy, but also affordable energy," Glos
said. "Renewable energy only makes up 30% [of power production] in Germany, so
it is high time that we start talking again more about coal to secure our
resources."He added that "solar energy alone also won't make up for all the
resources we need." 

On nuclear power, Glos emphasized the "necessity of nuclear power to
achieve the country's climate goals."

from Platts.com