Heilbronn/Stuttgart (dpa/lsw) - The energy company EnBW wants to increase the number of staff at its coal-fired power plants to ensure the supply. "For the coming winter we intend to increase the number of employees to a total of around 720 employees," said a spokeswoman for the "Heilbronner Voice" (Saturday). Around 670 people are currently employed. The Federal Council decided on Friday to use more coal-fired power plants to generate electricity because of the gas crisis.
EnBW operates five coal blocks in the southwest at four locations in Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Heilbronn and Altbach/Deizisau (Esslingen district). Another five coal blocks are in the grid reserve and are operated on the instructions of the transmission system operator TransnetBW.
The group has procured sufficient coal for all locations to be able to cover a high demand in the coming winter, the spokeswoman for the newspaper explained. "Further quantities are continuously being procured. With persistently high market prices, sufficient coal is available on the world market."
Despite the lack of natural gas deliveries from Russia, the Karlsruhe utility is sticking to its plans to convert its coal-fired power plants to natural gas. Gas is the best alternative as a bridging technology towards a green energy supply, EnBW board member Georg Stamatelopoulos told the "Stuttgarter Zeitung" and the "Stuttgarter Nachrichten" (Saturday). "Gas emits far less CO2 than coal. And it's not a dead-end technology because one day we can use green gases produced with green electricity in the same power plants." The plants are to be converted to hydrogen at some point.
