Steam rises from the cooling towers of the Jänschwalde lignite-fired power plant of Lausitz Energie Bergbau AG (LEAG) Photo: picture alliance/dpa
By Michael Sauerbier
The coal company LEAG is serious about the energy transition: In Lusatia, it is building Europe’s largest solar power plant.
“In 2026 we will connect Europe’s first gigawatt solar park to the grid,” said LEAG boss Thorsten Kramer. “With 1,000 megawatts of power, it is one of the top 10 in the world.” The power is sufficient to supply around 300,000 households.
The solar park will be built at the Welzow open-cast coal mine, Kramer revealed to the BZ. Others are to follow. “By 2030 we want to generate 7 gigawatts of green electricity,” says the LEAG boss, “as much as today with lignite.”
No problem for the group because it owns huge open-cast mining areas – and has full coffers. “We’re making 50 percent more profit than in 2021,” admitted Kramer. It costs 8 cents to generate one kilowatt hour of electricity from coal. Consumers pay more than 40 cents.
Now the federal government wants to skim off part of the excess profits through taxes. And thus pay for electricity and gas price brakes.
Despite the energy crisis, the coal phase-out remains the same: The reserve blocks E and F of the Jänschwalde power plant will be shut down by spring 2024, the four remaining blocks by 2028.