Reiche concedes on gas power plants: North and East to be given greater consideration

Under the new proposal from the black-red coalition, the cheapest bids in the tendering process are to be given priority going forward. The so-called South bonus would then only kick in once one-third of the contracts have already been awarded to states in the north and east. This represents a significant departure by the federal government from previous plans, under which up to two-thirds of the tendered power plant capacity was to flow preferentially to the so-called grid-technology south.

Which states stand to benefit

The grid-technology south comprises Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, and the Saarland. Going forward, improvements are to benefit primarily Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia. In doing so, the minister is responding to the Bundesrat resolution from June, in which Saxony, together with Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Saxony-Anhalt, had submitted a corresponding amendment.

The new gas power plants are intended to safeguard security of supply during the planned coal phase-out by 2038 and to serve as a backup during so-called "dark doldrums" (Dunkelflauten) when little solar and wind power is available. They must also be built in such a way that they can later be converted to hydrogen.

Reactions from Bavaria and Brandenburg

Bavaria's Economics Minister Martina Klement (CSU) welcomed the planned changes: "Neue steuerbare Kraftwerkskapazitäten müssen dort entstehen, wo sie das Stromsystem am wirksamsten stabilisieren. Das ist keine Frage regionaler Interessen, sondern eine Voraussetzung für Versorgungssicherheit, Netzstabilität und eine erfolgreiche Energiewende."

Brandenburg's CDU General Secretary Julian Brüning spoke of good news for the Lusatia region. The head of Brandenburg's CDU Bundestag members, Sebastian Steineke, described the move as a strong signal for the entire east.

Background: Coal phase-out and dark doldrums

There was muted applause from the opposition. Green Party Bundestag member Michael Kellner, a former parliamentary state secretary in the Economics Ministry under Robert Habeck, said: "Der breite Protest gegen den Südbonus hat gewirkt, das ist eine gute Nachricht für den Osten." At the same time, he criticized that the CDU/CSU and SPD wanted to give power plant operators "deutlich mehr Kohle für die Gaskraftwerke."

The conflict also has its background in a personal commitment from Reiche: In the summer of 2025, during a visit to the energy company Leag in the presence of Brandenburg's Minister-President Dietmar Woidke (SPD), the minister had held out the prospect of building new gas power plants for Lusatia. Leag is planning facilities that can later be converted to hydrogen. The proposed changes were made available to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur; the Märkische Allgemeine reported first.