De Croo government has 30 days to decide on nuclear power
Can Belgium close its 7 nuclear reactors by 2025? Or should she extend two? Discussions promise to be tense between the Greens and the MR.
This is “the” piece that was missing from the file: the results of the first auction triggered by the federal government to ensure that Belgium has sufficient electricity production capacity by 2025, results that fell on October 31. The De Croo government now has 30 days to decide whether it can phase out nuclear – its Plan A -, or whether it should extend one or two reactors, as provided for in the government agreement in the event of an “unexpected security of supply problem”.
The Greens see the results of the auction as confirmation that Belgium can permanently shut down its reactors.
The Greens see the results of this auction as confirmation that Belgium can permanently shut down its reactors. “The result of the auction clearly shows that we can guarantee the supply of energy for all. All the elements are on the table for the further implementation of the coalition agreement”, welcome in a joint press release, Rajae Maouane and Jean-Marc Nollet, co-presidents of Ecolo, and Meyrem Almaci, president of Groen.
GLB in search of a majority
Conversely, Georges-Louis Bouchez, the president of the MR, believes that this first round of auction prolongs the uncertainty. “There are two major unknowns. A significant portion of the capabilities rest on the 2024 auction, but without any legal guarantees. Or then it will be too late to turn around. Then there is the uncertainty about the two news. newly selected gas-fired power plants: one can still be appealed, and the other is unlicensed. “
Second concern of the president of the MR: the impact on prices, with a ton of CO2 which should become more and more expensive. “Either the producers will come back to the Belgian state, telling it that it is not tenable. Or they will add these rights to pollute to consumers’ bills.” GLB’s objection: the CO2 emissions these plants will cause – even if the ETS system means that this should lead other, more polluting plants to shut down elsewhere. An insufficient argument in his eyes. “We are told that the challenge is to reduce CO2 emissions urgently. And we go from a model where Engie paid us an annuity to produce energy without CO2 to a model where we will pay Engie to produce polluting energy, ”Bouchez said.
“We had behind-the-scenes reflections with other political parties. The price aspect, in particular, scares many.”
For him, the solution is simple: it is necessary to extend two nuclear reactors, which will make new gas power plants superfluous – even if this is not Elia’s analysis, the high-voltage network manager. And he still seems to be hoping to be able to rally a majority to his cause. “We had behind-the-scenes reflections with other political parties. The price aspect, in particular, scares many.”
And we must recognize that the other majority parties are for the moment extremely discreet on the subject. But choosing to extend two reactors would also lead to its share of uncertainties: the boss of Electrabel has repeatedly said that it is too late for this scenario. There is therefore no need to enter into a delicate negotiation with Engie on the conditions of this extension, which risks turning out to be very promising for the Belgian State.
The Minister of the Energy Tinne Van der Straeten is due to table in the coming days a final report on the matter, based mainly on the results of the auction, and drafted with the help of the energy administration. It is then up to the government to decide. The first meetings will take place in intercabinets from next week.