For the time being, the Federal Ministry of Economics is not pursuing any further considerations regarding the use of floating oil-fired power plants. With the decision to continue operating the remaining three German nuclear power plants, the offer from a Belgian company for up to three power plant ships is “currently no longer relevant,” said a spokesman for the ministry on Thursday when asked by the German Press Agency.
When presenting the second stress test for the German power supply in winter at the beginning of September, the ministry brought the use of such power-plant ships, also known as “power barges”, into play. These should possibly have helped to secure the power supply in northern Germany after the Emsland nuclear power plant was shut down at the end of the year.
The Belgian company Exmar has offered the federal government through the German embassy in Belgium the installation of up to three such power plant ships in Germany, for which there have also been talks with the company and the state government of Lower Saxony, according to the ministry.
