Germany begins dismantling wind farm for coal

EU Observer ^ | 29 Aug 2023, 10:43 | Wester van Gaal

[Olog-hai]

German energy giant RWE has begun dismantling a wind farm to make way for a further expansion of an open-pit lignite coal mine in the western region of North Rhine Westphalia.

One wind turbine has already been dismantled, with a further seven scheduled for removal to excavate an additional 15m to 20m tonnes of so-called ‘brown’ coal, the most polluting energy source.

The demolitions are part of a deal brokered last year between Robert Habeck, the Green Party’s minister for economy and climate action and Mona Neubaur, who is the economy minister for North Rhine Westphalia, to allow the expansion of the mine.

In return, RWE had to agree to phase out coal in 2030, eight years before the previous deadline. “It’s a good day for climate protection,” Habeck said at the time.

But this week’s move has sparked sharp criticism from activists.

“The current climate emergency requires urgent and concerted efforts to accelerate the deployment of every single wind turbine, solar panel and heat pump that we can muster,” said Fabian Hübner, a senior campaigner at Beyond Fossil Fuels, a German-based coalition of climate activists.

“Anything that diverts from this critical endeavor, especially the dismantling of renewable energy sources to extract more fossil fuels, must be unequivocally prohibited,” he added. […]

According to RWE, the expansion is necessary “due to the energy crisis.” The government in Berlin follows this logic. Indeed, some of the leading advocates of RWE’s coal expansion plans come from the Green Party, one of three ruling parties in Germany’s current ‘traffic light’ coalition with center-left SPD and business-friendly FPD-party.

Habeck has defended the expansion as the “right decision.” Green party politician Oliver Krischer has described the expansion and earlier phase-out as “one of the greatest advances we’ve made in recent years.” …

[Hiddigeigei]

"But nobody has demonstrated how transmutation of Th-232 into U-233 is economically viable or even “safer”, particularly with U-232 contamination still being a problem with its high gamma ray output."
A number of nations are in the process of developing Thorium based power right now. WikipediA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium-based_nuclear_power) has a rather extensive artticle on its history and the many countries in the planning stage of building power stations.