I'll believe that Germany will have phased out coal power in 2030 when I see 2031 on my calendar, and even then it might take a few months to get all the data collected, verified, and published to the public.
I've seen a lot of "5 year plans" that didn't pan out. Unsurprisingly these often come from politicians that plan to retire in 4 years, and so are using their 5 year plan to get one more term before retirement, then when their plan inevitably fails then it's the fault of someone else.
Sorry for being wrong but the open-cast lignite mining sites in the east of Germany will only cease operation by 2038, in the west they will have shut down by 2030. My bad. But still, Germans tend to stick to their agenda. Usually :)
I live in the western part of Germany near the Dutch border and the federal energy transformation strategy has had concrete effects on local industry for a few years, already.
Nuclear power was still an option after Fukushima. It only required educating the public than fuel their fears. I'm confused on what Fukushima had to do with so many nuclear power plants nowhere close to the sea, they weren't likely to take a tsunami to the face like Fukushima. Had this been about coastal reactors then it may have made some sense.
The first sentence is just not true. Public opinion was strongly anti-nuclear after Fukushima, globally. The industry was in severe spin-down mode and has only recovered over the last few years.
BTW, I was even more confused as to why the supposedly most secure nuclear plants on the planet would have their auxiliary power supplies built at sea level and not water-proof, but there you go.
