German lignite industry – historic development, resources, technology, economic structures and environmental effects

Lignite has a key role to play in the transformation of the energy system due to its specific structural features in terms of industry, company history, policy, economics, the environment and regional structures. Understanding these structural features of the German lignite industry is an important requirement for classifying the significance of the lignite industry up to now and for the redesigning of this industrial sector.

From these environmental, economic and regulatory structural characteristics, which are interwoven in a variety of ways, the incentives arise for the mining and power plant operators to react to energy price signals or energy policy steering. The aim of this research study is to define these structural features, to compile comprehensively the basic data and information that is not always transparently available, to understand the interactions, to enable the navigation of issues that are partly very complex, and to classify into the long-term developments that are especially important for political and social processes.

Link zur Studie:

https://www.oeko.de/aktuelles/2017/fakten-zur-deutschen-braunkohlenwirtschaft/

Update 2021:

https://www.oeko.de/publikationen/p-details/die-deutsche-braunkohlenwirtschaft-2021