Moscow’s attack on Ukraine last year led to an energy crisis. Because of the lack of gas supplies, the Federal Republic is importing more coal for power generation than in 2021. Despite sanctions, Russia remains the largest supplier.
During the energy crisis, Germany imported more hard coal last year. The amount rose by eight percent to 44.4 million tons, according to an evaluation by the Association of Coal Importers (VDKI).
The most important supplier was Russia with 13 million tons, which meant a decrease of 37 percent. The import of Russian coal into the EU has been banned since August because of the Ukraine war. According to the VDKI, the second most important supplier country was the USA with 9.4 million tons. The volume increased by 32 percent compared to the previous year. Deliveries from South Africa rose particularly sharply with plus 278 percent to 3.9 million tons, as well as from Colombia with plus 210 percent to 7.2 million tons and from Australia with plus 15 percent to 6.3 million tons.
Because of the energy crisis resulting from the lack of gas supplies from Russia, Germany is using more coal to generate electricity and has taken power plants out of reserve to do so. The energy source is also used in steel production. Burning coal produces more climate-damaging carbon dioxide than natural gas. The federal government therefore wants to quickly secure the gas supply and reduce the use of coal.
Electricity generation from conventional energy sources totaled 273 TWh last year, a decrease of 5.7 percent compared to 2021. The main reason for this was the decline in electricity generation from nuclear energy by almost 50 percent after the Grundremmingen C, Brokdorf and Grohnde nuclear power plants were shut down at the end of 2021 On the other hand, electricity generation from natural gas increased by 1.7 percent, that from lignite by 5.4 percent and that from hard coal by 21.4 percent.