The Austrian government announced on Sunday that it will reopen a Coal disaffected due to the decrease in deliveries of gas in Russian.
With the group verbundthe country’s main electricity supplier, “it has been agreed to reactivate the thermal power plant” in Mellach (south), currently closed, the Foreign Ministry announced in a statement issued after a crisis meeting.
The objective is “that in an emergency it can produce electricity from coal again,” the document adds.
The process will take several months, the environment ministry said, responding to a question from the APA news agency.
the plant of Mellachthe last coal-fired power plant in Austriaclosed in 2020 after the government decided to eliminate this polluting energy source and produce 100% of electricity with renewables by 2030.
“Our main objective is to ensure the supply of the country,” said Conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who governs with the Greens party.
The Russian giant Gazprom announced gas supply cuts in recent days, against the backdrop of the confrontation between Western countries and Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Germany also announced emergency measures this Sunday in the face of recent reductions in Russian gas deliveries, which will mean resorting more to coal.
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