Following the federal German election earlier this month, and as the various parties vie to create a governing coalition, the centre-left Social Democrats have agreed new green energy goals with possible coalition partners the Greens and Free Democrats, as the BBC reports. Germany’s planned coal exit would be brought forward from 2038 to 2030, while 2% of land would be allocated to wind farms, and solar panels would be installed on all suitable commercial roof space. With hard coal supplying around 12.9% of German electricity, and lignite 22.5%, an accelerated exit will mean that other forms of dispatchable energy will need to quickly take the place of coal, with gas (probably with carbon capture and storage) the obvious choice given that nuclear power (which currently supplies around 11.8% of electricity) is also being wound down. Other alternatives might be increased biomass firing and/or even an earlier-than-anticipated taking up of alternative fuels/vectors such as blue/green ammonia or hydrogen. Whatever the circumstances, the pace of change will have to be great. Social Democrats leader Olaf Scholz called the plan “probably Germany’s biggest industrial modernisation for more than a century”.