Noerr advises federal government on lignite power generation exit

06.07.2020
A Noerr team led by Dr Holger Schmitz, Dr Tibor Fedke and Christof Federwisch has supported the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) on coal power generation exit legislation and in its negotiations with energy utilities.

On 3 July 2020, the German lower house of parliament (Bundestag) passed the ‘Act to reduce and terminate coal power generation and amend further legislation’ (Coal Exit Act). Prior to this, a public-law agreement additionally setting out and specifying the rights and obligations anchored in the legislation had been negotiated with energy utilities.

This implements the recommendations of the Commission on ‘Growth, Structural Change and Employment’ and the results of the agreement reached between the German government, the federal states and lignite power station operators on the decommissioning of lignite power stations and joint open-cast lignite mining operations. This also goes to satisfy a key requirement for the further conversion of power generation and for achieving climate goals.

Advisors to the federal government

Team lead: Dr Holger Schmitz (Constitutional, Mining and State Aid Law, Berlin), Dr Tibor Fedke (Corporate, Berlin), Christof Federwisch (Energy, Frankfurt)

Advisory/corporate valuation
Santiago Ruiz de Vargas (Munich)

Employment law
Yvonne Dietzel (Dresden)

Energy
Dr Martin Geipel (Berlin)

Corporate/M&A
Katrin Andrä, Friedrich von Kettler, Ira Tsoures (Berlin)

Litigation, Arbitration & Alternative Dispute Resolution
Dr Anke Meier (Frankfurt)
Christian Balzer (Düsseldorf)

Regulatory & Governmental Affairs
Dr Max Helleberg, Dr Carl-Wendelin Neubert (Berlin)

Restructuring & Insolvency
Dr Dorothee Prosteder (Munich)
Simone Schönen, Philippa Peters (Hamburg)