this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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German energy giant RWE has begun dismantling a wind farm to make way for a further expansion of an open-pit lignite coal mine in the western region of North Rhine Westphalia.

I thought renewables were cheaper than coal. How is this possible?

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[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Germany, are you on the drugs?

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[–] IHeartBadCode@kbin.social 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I thought renewables were cheaper than coal. How is this possible?

This is one of those in general vs in particular things.

In general, yes coal is way more expensive versus renewable energy. In this particular instance, they’re just expanding the site, all of the really expensive stuff like logistics and transportation are already paid.

This is the same reason just keeping old nuclear plants running is cheaper than building a new one. Each industry has expensive parts and cheap parts. If you’re doing something that only expands the cheap parts then you’ll be able to beat out competitors.

[–] DrM@feddit.de 13 points 1 year ago

Additionally those turbines are at the end of their lifespan. They would need to be dismantled and rebuilt anyways, since they became structurally unsafe

[–] HornyOnMain@hexbear.net 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[–] Ram_The_Manparts@hexbear.net 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] infuziSporg@hexbear.net 21 points 1 year ago

city of Chinabad, capital of the union territory of Chinawar

[–] emmanuel_car@kbin.social 20 points 1 year ago (8 children)

12ft paywall removed link

The demolitions are part of a deal brokered last year between Robert Habeck, the Green party's minister for economy and climate action and Mona Neubaur, who is the economy minister for North Rhine Westphalia, to allow the expansion of the mine.

In return, RWE had to agree to phase out coal in 2030, eight years before the previous deadline. "It's a good day for climate protection," Habeck said at the time.

What’s the timeline for getting this expansion built? And what’s the lifecycle of the plant? I understand there are energy scarcity concerns, but how is this the most economical option when it’s ~7 years until they’re supposed to phase out coal?

[–] andrai@feddit.de 13 points 1 year ago

The wind turbines are already at the end of their lifespan and they knew RWE had the license to expand the mine there when the wind turbines where build.

Of course it's economical for RWE, they are not building a new mine. Just continuing their mining operation there for another 7 years.

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[–] Deadend@hexbear.net 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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[–] Tarte@kbin.social 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

RWE has no conscience left at all (doubt they ever had one). Coal is scheduled to be faded out by 2030 (recently rescheduled from 2038) and I do wonder if there really was no other option than to demolish those 8 windmills (and the nearby village).

That being said: This is a singular incident caused by long-time contracts of the fading industry. It’s not some paradigm shift in Germany. Coal will be gone soon and new windmills will be build.

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[–] gruf@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

is it just me or have these past few weeks just been one after another of announcements claiming people have given up on climate change? what gives?

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[–] suction@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (5 children)

This is infowars Level dumb and misleading

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