{"id":144492,"date":"2025-06-02T13:16:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T13:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/katherina-reiche-the-federal-government-plans-to-build-gas-plants-primarily-in-southern-germany\/"},"modified":"2025-06-02T13:17:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T13:17:00","slug":"katherina-reiche-the-federal-government-plans-to-build-gas-plants-primarily-in-southern-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/katherina-reiche-the-federal-government-plans-to-build-gas-plants-primarily-in-southern-germany\/","title":{"rendered":"Katherina Reiche: The federal government plans to build gas plants primarily in Southern Germany."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div data-page-number=\"1\">\n<p class=\"paragraph article__item\">As part of the planned expansion of natural gas power plants, the German government is focusing on \u00a0Southern Germany\u00a0, with \u00a0two-thirds of the new capacity\u00a0 set to be established in this region. Minister for Economic Affairs \u00a0Katherina Reiche\u00a0 (CDU) revealed this during a visit in Bavaria, where she announced the introduction of a \u00a0&#8220;South Bonus&#8221;\u00a0 aimed at incentivizing investments in the area. This announcement was made alongside Bavarian Minister-President \u00a0Markus S\u00f6der\u00a0 (CSU) at a press conference held by the picturesque \u00a0Tegernsee\u00a0.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph article__item\">Reiche indicated that extensive discussions are currently taking place with the \u00a0EU Commission\u00a0 regarding new gas power plant tenders. The Commission&#8217;s approval is crucial for state aid to avoid competition distortions within the EU.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph article__item\">Minister-President S\u00f6der explicitly welcomed these plans, stating that the Free State has been at a disadvantage in the past, but now there is a &#8220;real ray of hope.&#8221; He declared his intention to pursue closer cooperation with the \u00a0Federal Government\u00a0 under the coalition of Union and SPD, emphasizing that improved linkage of Bavaria to the hydrogen network is a significant signal.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"article__subheading article__item\">Gas Power Plants with a Capacity of up to 20 Gigawatts Planned<\/h2>\n<p class=\"paragraph article__item\">The expansion of gas power plants forms part of a broader energy policy realignment by the newly formed coalition government. According to the coalition agreement, up to \u00a020 gigawatts\u00a0 (GW) of new gas power capacity is anticipated, which translates to around \u00a040 plants\u00a0\u2014almost double the previous planning initiated by \u00a0Robert Habeck\u00a0 (Greens). Unlike earlier stipulations requiring a shift to hydrogen, this coalition has opted for the use of \u00a0CCS\u00a0 (Carbon Capture and Storage) technologies, despite the high associated energy and investment costs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph article__item\">Additionally, the new power plants will no longer only serve as reserves for wind and solar calms but will also be utilized actively to stabilize electricity prices. Previously, extensive gas generation led to significant price surges during these intermittent phases.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph article__item\">Bavaria has lagged behind nationally in wind power expansion, facing ongoing criticism from the wind energy sector concerning a \u00a0north-south divide\u00a0. A contentious issue between Habeck and S\u00f6der has been the \u00a010H regulation\u00a0, which mandates new wind turbines in Bavaria to be at least ten times their height away from habitation. As Minister of Economics, Habeck has called for the repeal of this restrictive distance rule.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph article__item\">In contrast, Bavaria has consistently ranked high in solar photovoltaic installations, with a large proportion of Germany&#8217;s solar energy capacity coming from the state. According to figures from the \u00a0Federal Network Agency\u00a0, in 2024, approximately \u00a0one-quarter\u00a0 of newly installed photovoltaic capacity was attributed to Bavaria, outpacing all other federal states.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"article__subheading article__item\">Former Head of Westenergie<\/h2>\n<p class=\"paragraph article__item\">Before her appointment as Minister of Economics, Reiche was the CEO of \u00a0E.on subsidiary Westenergie\u00a0 and served on the supervisory board of the Swedish energy firm \u00a0Ingrid Capacity\u00a0. Between 1998 and 2015, she was a \u00a0member of the Bundestag\u00a0. The trained chemist transitioned in 2015 to become the chief executive of the \u00a0Association of Municipal Enterprises\u00a0, which represents numerous municipal utilities. Her move sparked a debate about whether a transitional period should be mandated for lawmakers entering the private sector.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph article__item\">In June 2020, Reiche took on the leadership of the \u00a0German Hydrogen Council\u00a0.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"topicbox article__item\" aria-label=\"More on the topic: Energy Transition in Germany\">\n<p>More on the topic<\/p>\n<article class=\"topicbox-item\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zeit.de\/wirtschaft\/2025-05\/gaskraftwerke-katherina-reiche-wirtschaftsministerin-energiesicherheit-energiepolitik\" data-ct-label=\"Gas Power Plants: Full Throttle for Germany\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"topicbox-item__heading\">\n                <span class=\"topicbox-item__kicker\">    <svg class=\"svg-symbol zplus-logo\" width=\"22\" height=\"18\" role=\"img\" aria-label=\"Z+ (subscription content);\">\n        <title>Z+ (subscription content);<\/title>\n        <use xlink:href=\"#svg-zplus\"\/>\n    <\/svg>Gas Power Plants<\/span><span class=\"visually-hidden\">:<\/span><br \/>\n                <span class=\"topicbox-item__title\">Full Throttle for Germany<\/span><br \/>\n            <\/h3>\n<p>        <\/a><br \/>\n    <\/article>\n<article class=\"topicbox-item\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zeit.de\/2025\/23\/heizungsgesetz-union-energiewende-waermepumpe-hausbesitzer\" data-ct-label=\"Heating Law: The Heating Law Should Be Scrapped \u2013 What This Means for Homeowners\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"topicbox-item__heading\">\n                <span class=\"topicbox-item__kicker\">    <svg class=\"svg-symbol zplus-logo\" width=\"22\" height=\"18\" role=\"img\" aria-label=\"Z+ (subscription content);\">\n        <title>Z+ (subscription content);<\/title>\n        <use xlink:href=\"#svg-zplus\"\/>\n    <\/svg>Heating Law<\/span><span class=\"visually-hidden\">:<\/span><br \/>\n                <span class=\"topicbox-item__title\">The Heating Law Should Be Scrapped \u2013 What This Means for Homeowners<\/span><br \/>\n            <\/h3>\n<p>        <\/a><br \/>\n    <\/article>\n<article class=\"topicbox-item\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zeit.de\/wirtschaft\/2025-04\/lng-terminal-stade-erdgas-elbe-energie\" data-ct-label=\"LNG Terminal in Stade: Did the State Sink Millions Here?\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"topicbox-item__heading\">\n                <span class=\"topicbox-item__kicker\">LNG Terminal in Stade<\/span><span class=\"visually-hidden\">:<\/span><br \/>\n                <span class=\"topicbox-item__title\">Did the State Sink Millions Here?<\/span><br \/>\n            <\/h3>\n<p>        <\/a><br \/>\n    <\/article>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/category\/general\/\" rel=\"dofollow\">General News &#8211; 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As part of the planned expansion of natural gas power plants, the German government is focusing on \u00a0Southern Germany\u00a0, with \u00a0two-thirds of the new capacity\u00a0 set to be established in this region. Minister for Economic Affairs \u00a0Katherina Reiche\u00a0 (CDU) revealed this during a visit in Bavaria, where she announced the introduction of a \u00a0&#8220;South Bonus&#8221;\u00a0 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144493,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}