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Federal Minister of Economics Katherina Reiche (CDU) is relying on gas power plants. A new study calculates: Electricity from natural gas costs up to 67 cents per kilowatt hour – seven times more expensive than renewable energy.
Berlin – Berlin is planning to expand gas power plants as the backbone of the energy transition. But a new analysis by the Ecological-Social Market Economy Forum (FÖS) exposes this strategy as a billion-dollar grave.
The true cost of gas electricity is up to 67 cents per kilowatt hour – if you do the math honestly. For comparison: wind and solar power cost less than 10 cents. While Economics Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU) relies on fossil fuels, the numbers show an uncomfortable truth: Germany is making itself dependent on volatile markets and concealing the actual costs.
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The federal government is initially planning 10 gigawatts of new gas power plant capacity. Need for support loudly t-online.de: 6.6 billion euros. But that’s just the beginning. The FÖS study takes into account the so-called “social costs as a whole” – climate damage, subsidies for gas storage and LNG terminals, tax exemptions for electricity generation.
A single 500-megawatt power plant will cause millions of tons of CO₂ and climate damage of up to 7 billion euros by 2045. These costs do not appear in any official invoice, but everyone pays them.
Geopolitical roulette
The Iran conflict shows how quickly gas prices can explode. Within a few days, the European gas price doubled from 32 to 65 euros per megawatt hour. In times of crisis, electricity generation costs can rise to up to 53 cents per kilowatt hour – excluding climate costs.
Germany imports 95 percent of its natural gas, thereby exposing itself to geopolitical shocks. Any conflict in the Middle East or Central Asia drives up prices. Anyone who relies on gas is playing Russian roulette with the energy supply.
The alternative is on the table
Storage technologies, bioenergy and green hydrogen can guarantee security of supply at comparable or lower costs – without price shocks. Wind and solar power cost a maximum of 10 cents per kilowatt hour, even under unfavorable conditions.
The FÖS analysis shows: Renewable backup options are not only more climate-friendly, but also economically superior. Nevertheless, the federal government is sticking to its one-sided gas strategy. Florian Zerzawy from FÖS puts it in a nutshell: Natural gas is already massively subsidized in Germany, from gas storage facilities to tax advantages. This support distorts competition to the detriment of renewable alternatives.
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This article was created in a content partnership with partner Business Punk
Business Punk Check on Germany’s gas strategy
Berlin’s gas power plant strategy is economic policy self-deception. The official electricity production costs of 23 to 28 cents mask the true costs. If you take climate damage, subsidies and crisis risks into account, you end up with 67 cents – seven times more expensive than green electricity. But instead of launching technology-specific tenders, the government is pumping 6.6 billion into fossil fuel infrastructure. This is not energy policy, but lobbying for the gas industry.
For companies this means: Anyone who relies on gas electricity in the long term is calculating with fantasy prices. Any geopolitical conflict can double the costs. Those who invest now in their own renewable capacities – storage, photovoltaics, load management – are smart. The technology is there, the costs are transparent, the risks can be calculated. Gas power plants are the opposite: expensive, dependent, harmful to the climate. Germany no longer needs fossil bridge technology, but rather the courage to tear down the bridge.
