Germany will continue to need coal-fired power plants, its energy regulator said, warning that Europe's biggest economy should not rely solely on renewables or risk increasing exposure to Russian gas as it shuts down nuclear plants. "Those who call for an end of coal power generation don't have much interest in a reliable energy policy," Jochen Homann, president of the Federal Network Agency, or BnetzA, told an energy industry conference Wednesday. "We will close further nuclear plants; these capacities need to be replaced," he said, adding that coal power was vital to achieve this. --Reuters, 27 August 2014
