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State-of-the-art technology brings greater efficiency and energy savings at gas and coal-fired power stations

”The modern energy policy of the SPD-led Government of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder gives high priority to research into renewable energies. The funding needed for this has been increased significantly in recent years. This highly-responsible national policy includes coal-based generation using the latest eco-friendly technology”, says Dieter Grasedieck in his speech to the Reichstag.

MdB Dieter Grasedieck

Member of the Bundestag Dieter Grasedieck (SPD)  spoke in the House on the subject of energy policy.

It was important to ensure a healthy and crisis-proof energy mix and to manage it in a sustainable way: „We must pass on to our children a future-proof energy generation system. For this reason we simply cannot support nuclear power.“

The Federal Government is therefore pinning its hopes on using the latest technology to achieve greater efficiency and energy savings at our coal and gas-fired power stations. This is a sensible policy not just from an energy viewpoint but also from a labour-market perspective. A total of 60,000 new jobs have been created in the wind-power industry alone, with a further 29,000 in biomass utilisation and 14,000 in the field of solar-thermal energy and photovoltaics. Add to this some 3,000 jobs that have been created in the area of power generation by ground-source heat pumps.

This decision is an important signal for more jobs in North Rhine-Westphalia and in the Emscher-Lippe region, with Grasedieck also referring to the expansion of the Kokerei Prosper coking plant in Bottrop and the construction of a new coal-fired power station in NRW.

„ This is the route to success for the Federal Government. German industry is a global market leader. The CO2–free coal-fired power station is a high-tech product from Germany. It is a big export earner“, according to Grasedieck, who went on to refer to Germany’s excellent foreign trade balance: “There is no alternative to the Government’s sustainable and responsible energy policy.”