On Monday, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck announced that the German government will complete most of the work this year to move its power grid further toward reliance on renewable energies by the end of the decade.

As electricity demand continues to rise, Habeck intends to overhaul the 550-terrawatt hours per year (TWh) energy market, as Germany moves away from fossil fuels and into the renewable energy sphere under its climate commitments.

In a consultation meeting on power market reform, the minister said, “We will do most of the necessary work in 2023,” of reaching the goal of generating 80% of electricity from wind and the sun by 2030.

He went on to say the government will prepare gas-fired power capacity to act as a backup system to the green energy systems, as nuclear and coal production are gradually phased out. The strategy for the backup systems will be prepared in this quarter, and Habeck noted the gas systems would eventually be phased out and replaced with greener systems such as hydrogen.

Habeck noted Germany’s plan would set the nation apart from other nations which are proving more resistant to letting go of older, more reliable forms of less-green energy production.

He explained, “Creating alternative baseload will be a specific challenge. In a way, it will be like teaching an elephant how to dance.”

Germany’s plan to move toward renewable energy began when Olaf Scholz’s coalition government presented an ambitious plan in December of 2021, for the government to move away from fossil fuels and toward renewable sources of energy.

The plans were interrupted when gas prices recently skyrocketed, due in part to Western sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its military actions in Ukraine. Failures of critical parts of gas pipelines, followed by sabotage of the Nordstream pipeline network caused the gas market to tighten, as Russian supplies were removed from the market.

As winter approached, and it appeared Germany might not have enough gas to heat the resident’s homes, the government in Berlin ordered that idled coal power plants be brought online to conserve gas usage. In addition, the government ordered that the phase-out of coal-fired power plants be delayed until March of 2024.