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Translated by: Flutura Gashi-Mehmeti
- 19 January 2025 11:46
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German opposition leader Friedrich Merz, who is tipped to be Germany's next chancellor, has pledged to build 50 gas-fired power plants if his conservatives win the February 23 snap election, the t-online newspaper reported on Sunday.
"We need to build 50 gas-fired power plants in Germany as soon as possible, which will be connected to the grid immediately," Merz, who heads the conservative CDU/CSU bloc, said in an interview with t-online.
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Letter to the Reader — Why We're Asking for Your Support ContributeGas-fired electricity generation in Germany rose by a record 79% in November compared to the previous month, Reuters reports.
Wind power production was 25% below year-earlier levels in October and November 2024 due to low wind speeds, depriving energy firms of a key source of electricity at the start of winter. Wind farms supplied 27% of Germany's electricity in 2023.
Merz, the leader of Germany's conservative CDU/CSU bloc, is widely expected to succeed Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose fractured coalition with the Greens and pro-business Free Democrats collapsed in November over conflicting plans to revive the country's sluggish economy.
He told t-online that it was a "serious strategic mistake" by Scholz's government to "close the last three nuclear power plants that guaranteed reliable energy production in the midst of the energy crisis."