> This is not “the plan” although getting rid of all coal is part of the plan.
It is: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/germany-agrees-subsi...
> The ministry said hydrogen transition plans should be drawn up by 2032 to enable the plants to be fully switched to hydrogen between 2035 and 2040.
> "Germany last year agreed with the European Commission to tender 8.8 GW of new hydrogen plants, and up to another 15 GW that will run initially on natural gas before being connected to the hydrogen grid by 2035 at the latest, but Berlin and Brussels have disagreed on how the gas plants would be subsidised."
So basically, Germany is _paying_ companies somewhere around $20B to build new gas power plants and make _plans_ to switch to hydrogen by 2032. The switch itself can go into 2040-s.
“So the plan right now is to replace the coal generation with natural gas generation, and color the pipes in green paint.” - eh no. This is not “the plan” although getting rid of all coal is part of the plan.