Effects of Nuclear Power Phase-out in Germany on the Austrian Power System

Paper in proceeding, 2015

The German government has recently decided to phase out all of Germany’s nuclear power plants by the end of 2022. This will likely have a sizable impact on the power system of the neighbor countries. The present paper investigates the effects of a nuclear power phase-out in Germany on the steady state operation of the Austrian power system. For the study, a multi-period dc optimal power flow model of the integrated German and Austrian power systems (GAPS) has been developed. The real power system data of Austria is used while the data for the German power system is taken from available literature. The model is used in the case study considering a number of future scenarios in the power generation supply system in both countries. The results from the case study show that the nuclear power phase-out in Germany would lead to an increase in electricity exports from Germany to Austria and an increased usage of coal power between 26 % and 39 % in 2022, whereas the total costs for power generation depend stronger on wind power conditions in the future.