Battery plant to store energy from planned wind, solar plants
Region39;s traditional coalfired plants to be phased out
Concerns about jobs, energy, water security
Campaign launched to attract young people
Berlin pushing for coal phaseout by 2030 versus 2038 plan

FORST, Germany, June 19 Reuters Eastern Germany39;s historic mining belt could get a new lease of life thanks to plans to build the country39;s largest battery park at the site of Boxberg, a communistera coalfired power plant on the Polish border.

The project, unveiled by the Czechowned mining and power company LEAG last week, involves building a 200 million euro 218 million facility to store for wind and solar energy that will gradually replace the sprawling coal pits of the Lusatia region.

It follows on from plans announced last year by LEAG to build solar and wind plants with a capacity of up to 7 gigawatts, which the company expects to involve more than 1,000 employees directly or indirectly.

They are to be built on some of the 33,000 hectares 330 square km of former coal mines in Lusatia by 2030.

The plans are emblematic of the drive by Chancellor Olaf Scholz39;s government to accelerate the phaseout of coal power towards a carbon neutral economy by as early as 2030 versus the agreed target of 2038.

But the transition, and efforts to accelerate it, gets a mixed welcome in a region that remains sceptical about its social and ecological impact and the technical challenges to be overcome.

The mood in…